‘Playing for England is a doddle’

“At the end of the second year at Watford, I got called into the England team as a standby goalkeeper so I saw the standard of what England was like,” Foster revealed.

“It was quicker, it was faster, everyone was stronger. I had a feeling of what it would be like when I got back to United.

“It’s funny because Gary Neville always used to say to me: ‘listen, if you can play for United, playing for England is a doddle.’

“My problem was that I couldn’t play for United, so playing for England was a problem! Even at that time, the level at United was probably better than the level at England. That’s how good United were at that time, properly in their pomp, the big boys doing it week in, week out relentlessly.”