Number of caps: 7 When Steve McClaren became the England manager, he wanted to put his own stamp on the job. Having been Sven Goran Eriksson's assistant, he was keen to prove that he was his own man. Some of what he did made sense - he made John Terry captain when the Chelsea defender had just 24 caps - but a lot of what he did hobbled his team unnecessarily, One controversial decision was the choice to banish David Beckham to the international wilderness. McClaren cited his desire to go in "a different direction". The man he had earmarked to replace Beckham on England's right wing was Blackburn Rovers' David Bentley. They shared certain similarities: a lack of pace, a penchant for ridiculous haircuts and the initials D.B.. But that's as far as the similarities went. Bentley courted controversy before even making it into the England side when he declined a call up for the Under-21s, stating he thought skipping Under-21 duty would "further England career rather than shorten it". He couldn't have been more wrong as he ended up with just 7 England caps, all of them entirely unmemorable. Bentley's inability to become the new Beckham meant that Beckham himself was eventually recalled into the England fold, and Bentley retired from the game as a forgotten man at the age of just 29, having spent a year without a club.
David is an office drone and freelance writer for WhatCulture and Moviepilot, among others. He's also foolishly writing a serialised novel on Jukepop and has his own irregularly updated website. He's available for freelance work. Reach out on Twitter to @davefox990
