As the World Cup finals approached, optimism oscillated; as did Alf Ramsey's selection. He still seemed to have no clear idea of what kind of team, what kind of tactic, he wanted, though there were sporadic shafts of light. Especially in Madrid where, without Jimmy Greaves in early December 1965, England beat Spain 2-0. One of the goals was scored by little Joe Baker, a tough and mobile centre forward, Scottish to a degree, who happened to be born in Liverpool.

'England,' said Spain's manager, Jose Villalonga, 'were just phenomenal tonight. They were far superior in their performance. They could have beaten any team.'

Barely a month later, it was back again to sustained mediocrity, a rare match played away from Wembley in Liverpool and drawn 1-1 against Poland. At least George Cohen, the ebullient Fulham right back who had replaced Jimmy Armfield, kept his place, despite having tackled Ramsey, once after all a right back himself, so fiercely that Alf landed on his head and lay there, groaning. Cohen watched apprehensively till Ramsey at last looked up and said, 'George, if I had another fuckin' full back, you wouldn't be playin' tomorrow.' As it was both Cohen and his fellow full back Ray Wilson played well, and their crosses were to be instrumental in England's successful World Cup campaign.

Could Peter Osgood be the saviour? Eighteen years old, a precociously effective centre forward, tall and strong, clever on the ground, powerful in the air, eulogised by his Chelsea manager Tommy Docherty, the risk surely seemed worth taking. But the word went round that Ramsey, though he would put Osgood on his list of forty possibles, thought he should be saved until the next World Cup. As it transpired, he would indeed go to Mexico, with only a couple of appearances as substitute. Ramsey's deep, utterly English caution, his mistrust of the maverick, was all too evident again. But the matter became sadly academic the next season when Osgood broke his leg in a clash with Emlyn Hughes, then with Blackpool, and a future England captain.

So it was, when England came to play a weakened West German team at Wembley in a friendly, that Ramsey, at centre forward, preferred to pick … Nobby Stiles. Not, plainly, expecting him to play an orthodox striker's game, yet the choice seemed the essence of perversity; even if Stiles scored the only goal of a tediously lukewarm game. No newspapers would tell Alf what to do!

Yet in retrospect, it is tantalising to dwell on what might have been; and what actually was. What, you wonder, if Ramsey had given Osgood his chance, conquering his aversion to the unorthodox, and Osgood had flourished? That, presumably, would have barred the way to Geoff Hurst, who became the unexpected hero of the last World Cup stages, the scorer of a hat trick in the final. Indeed, I still remember, somewhat tactlessly, perhaps, that it was to Hurst that I lamented Osgood's injury and consequent absence during the pre-World Cup European tour in which the West Ham man scarcely excelled. 'Instead of me, I suppose,' said Hurst, bitterly. Unlike Osgood, he had never been a Boy Wonder. Initially a wing half and son of a former professional player, Hurst had almost been sold to Southend United, only at the last moment for West Ham boss Ron Greenwood to change his mind, and in due course to convert him with such success into an attacker.

There was another setback for Ramsey, and England, in March when, at Newcastle, a Football League team which included several first-choice England players, including the Charlton brothers, Alan Ball on the right flank and Jimmy Greaves, was utterly outplayed - something, alas, unthinkable nowadays - by the Scottish League team, which won 3-1. Particularly embarrassing for Ramsey, given an aversion to wingers which had already been noted and criticised in the New Year, was the fact that the little, red-haired Celtic outside right, Jimmy Johnstone, had tormented Keith Newton, the Football League left back.

It is interesting to note that Ramsey, this early, was already answering criticism of his 'non-wingers' policy by insisting that the wingers just were not there. In the Football League game, Bobby Charlton was deployed on the left wing. The indications were that Ramsey's tactics were still in a somewhat amorphous state. Using Bobby Charlton behind the front line was a strategy innovated only the following April against Scotland, when Jimmy Johnstone would again play havoc with an England defence which not only gave away three goals against an unbalanced Scottish side, but were also lucky not to concede a penalty.

Over the years, the received wisdom has been that Ramsey as strategist was a shrewd operator in both his World Cups - apart from the misconceived substitutions against West Germany in the 1970 quarter-final - and began making costly mistakes only in 1972. Yet hindsight - that impeccable aid to being right - suggests that he found his way to England's ultimately successful 1966 World Cup formation only as the product of trial and frequent error.

© Brian Glanville 2007 Extracted from England Managers, the Toughest Job in Football, by Brian Glanville, published by Headline at £18.99. It is available for £17.09 including postage from The Times BooksFirst on 0870 165 8585 or buy the book here.

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