5 times the England manager shocked the fans with his World Cup squad selection

#3: Les Ferdinand chosen ahead of Dublin and Sutton – World Cup 1998

Les Ferdinand was a surprise selection for the 1998 World Cup squad - ahead of Golden Boot winner Dion Dublin

It was a move that often gets overlooked due to a more controversial call in the squad selection for the same tournament (more on that later!). But, when Glenn Hoddle decided to take Spurs striker Les Ferdinand to the World Cup in 1998, more than a few eyebrows were raised.

It wasn’t that Ferdinand wasn’t a talented striker. He certainly was, as he’d been banging goals in for fun at Newcastle United for two seasons prior to his move to Tottenham.

But his first season at White Hart Lane, the one leading into the World Cup, was heavily disrupted by injuries, so much so that he only scored 5 goals.

Meanwhile, two other English strikers, at less fashionable clubs, were making a lot of noise. Coventry City’s Dion Dublin and Blackburn Rovers’ Chris Sutton both scored 18 goals in 1997/98, sharing the Premier League’s Golden Boot with Liverpool teenager Michael Owen.

It seemed like a given that one of the two would go to the World Cup, but Dublin soon became the only option when Sutton refused to play for England’s B-team and was then frozen out by Hoddle altogether.

Alan Shearer and Teddy Sheringham were clearly England’s first-choice strikers and Owen had forced himself into the picture with his form, but it seemed like a no-brainer that Dublin would be the fourth man included. Instead, Ferdinand was selected while Dublin stayed at home.

In the end, it didn’t matter. Ferdinand didn’t make a single appearance at the tournament – but it was a call that sent out a horribly wrong message; that playing for a bigger club could get you selected for England regardless of your form, and it was a shocking move from Hoddle.