March 29 – Jamo’s England Bow | On This Football Day

March 29 – Jamo’s England Bow

EVERYONE’S favourite eccentric English goalkeeper was making his international debut today in 1997, when David James was picked to guard the Three Lions’ net against Mexico at Wembley.

The then-Liverpool goalkeeper was given his first run out for England as Glenn Hoddle fancied a look at a backup for David Seaman. James did all that was asked of him as England cantered to a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Teddy Sheringham and Robbie Fowler.

Despite this, he wasn’t able to displace Arsenal’s pony-tailed stopper as England’s number one until Seaman made it one clanger too many when England drew 2-2 with FYR Macedonia in 2002.

Back in ‘97 James wasn’t really helping himself too much either, though. After he had conceded three goals against Newcastle United he ‘fessed up that he had been playing too much Playstation.

“I was getting carried away playing Tekken II and Tomb Raider for hours on end,” he said. James was also part of Liverpool’s ‘Spice Boys’ set and signed several high-profile modeling deals.

Since then James has overcome his computer game addiction and is now more renowned for some of the daftest haircuts seen in the Premier League and also fancying himself as a bit of an artist, as this clip shows.

After last night’s friendly win over Slovakia, James is still his countries first-choice as he moves towards his 50th cap. This longevity has also seen him wrestle the Premier League appearance record from Gary Speed. See another amusing Jamo clip, where James shows why he’s a keeper and shouldn’t be allowed up-front. We’ll be back tomorrow, but until then check out what else was going on today here.