sent off during that match - by some sections of the media and fans). Before McManaman joined Madrid, Spanish media outlets like El País, eager to make sense of why Madrid were insisting on signing McManaman when he had not even featured much in the last World Cup, concluded that the only rationale to explain McManaman's non-selection by Hoddle must have been because McManaman was known as a free role-playing playmaker, and was "difficult to classify. He needs the point of freedom...not provided in the English team" and that he was therefore by implication, difficult to place into Hoddle's system. When interviewed by FourFourTwo, McManaman stated, "I think I probably least enjoyed my time when Glenn Hoddle was the manager. But I wouldn't say he was necessarily the worst. He had his ways of training and ways of acting and all managers have different ways of doing things; it's the same with club managers. Sometimes when you join up with England and you don't play as often as you did under a certain other manager—then you'll think it's terrible. I loved going to play with England. For instance, I did get to go to the World Cup even though I only played for 17 minutes. That kind of experience leaves an indelible mark on your mind. So I don't really think of it in terms of "worst"; but going to the World Cup and not playing much was a big thing for me, really, and that was under Glenn, of course." Hoddle also arranged for McManaman to meet a disabled fan (and thus fulfil his lifelong wish of meeting McManaman) while the fan was on the verge of death, in 1997, though the story only broke a year after Hoddle had been sacked from the England job for alleged disparaging comments about disabled people. 1999–2001: Continued appearances and UEFA Euro 2000 After Kevin Keegan was appointed as England manager, he quickly reinstated McManaman to the England starting lineup, further adding that he thought McManaman was one of the best midfielders in Europe. John Barnes spoke about McManaman in his autobiography in 1999 as "probably the greatest individual talent in English football and has to be presented the correct way", and Keegan gave several interviews in 1999 backing up that point; adding that he was finding out how best to utilise McManaman. Keegan eventually decided on deploying McManaman on the left-wing