York City's (England) Internationals
This page focuses mainly (but not exclusively) on players who made full international appearances whilst playing for City. Loanees and triallists are excluded.
City have had a smattering of players who have gained full internationals all the way back to the 1920s.
It wasn’t until 1965 and Eamon Dunphy that a City player received a full international cap whilst playing for City. To this day, we still await our first player to gain a full England international cap whilst with City. Richard Cresswell and his England Under 21 cap in 1999 being about the closest.
With the world opening up, the number of City players called up for their country has steadily increased.
Eamon Dunphy
Arriving at Bootham Crescent in August 1965 for £4,000 from Manchester United, Eamon Dunphy soon made an impact in newly promoted City’s midfield. His performances were quickly noted and in November 1965, he made his Eire full international debut in a 1966 World Cup play off defeat against Spain in Paris. That made him the first player to win full international honours whilst with City. However, he soon became disillusioned (some might read that as big headed) at City and secured a move up a division in January 1966 when he joined Millwall for £10,000.
He was a mainstay of the Millwall side for several seasons as they narrowly failed to win promotion to the top flight. Short spells with Charlton and Reading followed before he returned to Dublin and retired in 1978. He added another 22 caps to the one he won whilst with City. I recall him leading by example as his struggling Charlton beat City 1-0 in January 1974, a small setback in City’s run towards promotion. By this time, his first and most widely praised book was “Only a Game?: Diary of a Professional Footballer”, highly acclaimed to this day had been published. It focused on a season with Millwall where hopes of promotion unravelled as the season came to an end.
After he retired. he wrote a series of controversial books, including biographies of Sir Matt Busby, Roy Keane and U2, eventually falling foul of each of them and others, Jack Charlton included. A career in journalism, broadcasting and politics has seen him remain in the public eye. His views on Sir Matt Busby and his transfer to City cast a different slant on Busby to what is widely recognised.
Read More.
Peter Scott
Peter Scott joined City in December 1975 and that season he made the right back shirt his own after it had been passed, like a hot potato, between Peter Oliver, Cliff Calvert, John Stone and Peter Creamer earlier in the season.
Arriving from Everton with 50 top flight appearances (and 2 Northern Ireland full caps) to his name, much was expected. Initially, he was to prove sound but couldn’t help to prevent City from suffering relegation at the end of his first season and again a year later as City plummeted to the basement division under Wilf McGuinness.
Sometimes classy, more often than not he was unable to impose his footballing pedigree on games during his time with City. The longer he was with City, the further his form seemed to dip. Previously, I named him in my all time worst City side, maybe he wasn’t the worst ever, but certainly he fell a long way short of the high standards expected of a then current 1970s top flight international dropping down a division to play for City.
A teammate described him as a typical scouser who was “quite cynical and didn't mind kicking opponents” who formed a bond with fellow big name newcomers as the team spirit that had seen City gain 2 promotions under Tom Johnston was eroded.
Despite City’s struggles, Scott was to make a further 7 appearances for Northern Ireland during his time at Bootham Crescent. He was the second player (after Eamon Dunphy) to gain full international honours during his City days and currently holds the record of winning the most international caps during a City career. Scott is the only City player, to date, to play an international against England as a City player. He did it twice in the 1970s. In total, he made 100 league appearances for City over 3 and a half seasons, scoring 3 goals (one, a 30 yarder against Newport County in January 1978) with another 14 cup appearances for City.
Transfer listed, he moved to Aldershot in March 1979 for £3,000 before drifting out of league football after adding one more full international cap to his name.
The Gary Mills Era And Beyond
Fast forward 3 decades. City’s scheduled league game at Bath on September 3rd 2011 was postponed due to City's international call ups. 3 players (Paddy McLaughlin, Lanre Oyebanjo & Andre Boucaud) were called up for international (full and Under 21) duty with another 3 players (Jamal Fyfield, Matty Blair and Michael Potts) selected for the England C squad. Andre Boucaud made 48 appearances for Trinidad and Tobago which spanned 2004 through to March 2021. Despite being called up whilst with City, he didn’t add to his tally whilst a City player. On 28th February 2012, Blair and Chambers played for England C against Italy. Chambers later withdrew from the June squad to play Russia through injury. On September 7th 2012, Patrick McLaughlin skippered Northern Ireland Under-21s against Macedonia (NI lost 3-1) in Belfast on Friday evening and played the final game of the U21 campaign the following week in Denmark (a 3-0 defeat).
However, City's 3rd full international wasn't until Sander Puri joined City in June 2013 and gained 5 Estonian caps in his season with City amongst the 93 he’d won by June 2022. After leaving City, he played for Estonia against England at Wembley in a European Championships qualifier in October 2015.
The 4th and 5th quickly followed.
Signed from Southend in June 2014, Anthony Straker made 2 appearances for Grenada during his 18 months with City and became the first player to score an international goal whilst with City (v Haiti, 4th September 2015).
Signed around the same time, Marvin McCoy made one appearance for Antigua and Barbuda during his 18 months with City.
Maz Kouhyar
Depending on your sources and how you classify an international, the number of caps Maz has won will vary. As at 30th June 2022, they appeared to number 12 if all appearances are included. The last 5 being whilst with City.
Watch as he scored his first international goal on 26th March 2022, the first in a 3-0 win over Kuwait’s Under 23 team in what was termed a “hybrid friendly” (nothing to do with cars, only caps) and played on what looked like a park pitch in Turkey.
"Hybrid friendlies" and given the circumstances of Afghanistan, there is a lack of firm information but
National Football Teams and Soccerway might help.
City Players As Full / Under 21 England Internationals
There are honourable mentions for Joe Hulme (9 caps, 4 goals), Phil Boyer (1 cap), Paul Robinson (City Under 14 and 41 England caps), Nick Pope (8 caps as at August 2022) and Ben Godfrey (2 caps as at August 2022) who all won England caps after playing for City.
Alf Young played for City in the1945/6 FA Cup, he’d previously played 9 games for England, including the infamous 6-3 win over Germany in Berlin in 1938.
David Stockdale was called up for the full England squad but never played.
Richard Cresswell was the first player to play for England Under 21 as a City player and was followed by keeper Russ Howarth who along with the rest of the England Under 21 squad was placed on standby for the 2002 World Cup after playing in a post season tournament in France in May 2002.
The following played for England Under 21 after playing for City Non English Internationals
The following also played for City and at some point in their careers won full international honours, mostly before joining City, for countries other than England,.
... And Finally (1)
Going way back, a number of York youngsters went onto play for England schoolboys (Under 15) and English youth (Under 18) sides. Brian Pollard, Cliff Calvert and Mike de Placido winning youth caps in the early 1970s before making City's first team. Chris Hogg captaind the Under 15 side in 2001 before a compensation fee of £150,000 was agreed with Ipswich. He later played for England at Under 19 / 18 / 17 level before an injury ravaged senior career. A coaching career followed with spells at Ipswich and Newcastle followed before he was appointed assistant manager at Milton Keynes in 2021.
... And Finally (2)
“C” caps (formerly known as Semi Pro caps) area awarded to non league internationals in Britain.
Since 2004, many City players have won C caps for England and other home nations. Olly Dyson (2023), Matty Blair, Ashley Chambers, Richard Brodie, Martyn Woolford, Josh Mimms, Adam Boyes, Neal Bishop and David Stockdale being amongst the recent for England and Daniel Parslow for Wales.
Check the playing records of all City players to see their International Honours in
column BM (or thereabouts), headed "2022/3 Clubs" on our downloadable spreadsheet.
... And Finally (3)
Shout outs for England Woman's internationals Lucy Staniforth (daughter of Gordon, a junior in the area before there was an official set up) and Jess Park, a member of City's Regional Talent Centre until she joined Manchester City when aged 16, who scored within 79 seconds of coming on as a substitute on her England international debut in the 4-0 friendly win over Japan in Murcia (Spain) on November 11th 2022.
... And Finally (4)
In response to a TOOAB post (2023, #12) regarding City' international keepers, you might be surprised to know how many former City keepers have full international honours. They include Nick Pope, Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Alan Fettis, Michael Ingham, Neville Southall, Dean Kiely, Paul Robinson and Edouard Wojtczak. In City’s academy, Paul Robinson was behind the likes of Dean Kiely and Andy Warrington and was allowed to leave. Leeds, Spurs and England followedfor him. I’ve included Edouard Wojtczak, he played briefly for City immediately after World War 2 and played for the Polish Army, often considered to be the equivalent of a full international in that era. If you considered those who gained England age group caps, you can add Scott Flinders, Scott Loach, Russell Howarth, Bobby Mimms, Michael Norris, Glen Livingstone, Andy Gosney, Scott Endersby and Roger Jones. To that list you can add David Stockdale, Josh Mimms and Adam Bartlett if you consider England C (Non League) internationals.
