[1] He organised the first recorded game held under the name of 'England B', which was played in Geneva on 21 February 1947 against Switzerland B team.

[1] Graham Taylor continued Robson's practice of holding regular B team matches.

Glenn Hoddle also arranged two B team matches, as part of his build up to the 1998 FIFA World Cup, with a further gap until 2006.

Steve McClaren's only match with the B team was against the Albania full side on 25 May 2007 at Burnley's Turf Moor ground, which they won 3–1,[4] as preparation for England's Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia on 6 June 2007.

[5] The squad included a recovering Michael Owen, who captained the side,[6] as well as seven uncapped players, five of whom have since gone on to receive full international caps.

The aim of games has typically been to introduce younger or more inexperienced players into the national team set up, without giving them a full cap.

[2] The highest attendance at home for the B team was 43,068 at St James' Park, Newcastle, again against the Netherlands on 22 February 1950.

Furthermore, Matt Le Tissier, who scored a hat-trick for the England B team against Russia B in that match, controversially failed to make the 1998 FIFA World Cup squad.

[10] In particular, it proved useful for Aaron Lennon and Peter Crouch to stake their claims for places in the 2006 FIFA World Cup squad.