Yet, if certain soccer coaches had had their way, Dobbo would have become a hustling, bustling, battering-ram of a centre forward. A human bulldozer encouraged, indeed instructed, to push the ball on immediately rather than use his obvious classical skills to beat an opponent or two.

That was in Martin's spell with Bolton Wanderers. He admits now that he rebelled against the coaching. He says: "They were great to me at Burnden Park when I was a nipper. I made pretty fair progress as a striker who liked to hold the ball. But when I became a full professional they tried to completely change my style. Suddenly I was one of a gang of forwards chasing big boots out of defence." And what happened is that today's £300,000 superstar was sent packing from Bolton . . . on a free transfer!

At Burnley, they let his skills develop. At Burnley, they either find new talent. Or encourage so called "no-hopers". He wasn't the only ‘free’ man given a new lease of life at Turf Moor. There was the one-time England World Cup defender Keith Newton, and the polished midfielder Geoff Nulty (now Newcastle). He got used to the comings and goings at Burnley, as big money stars like Steve Kindon, Dave Thomas, Ralph Coates and Willie Morgan moved on. And Martion was to prove the most costly buy of all.

He says now: "Coaching, if it’s done sensibly, is vital to the game. But there’s no point forcing a youngster to do things which just don’t suit his style. You can imagine how I felt when Bolton, in effect, said that I had no value. After all, the club itself wasn’t doing so hot. You’d have thought that anyone with even a little bit of talent could make it there. But not me. Anyone who knows me must know that I simply live for the game. So I must have been really down when I got that ‘free’, because I honestly thought seriously about giving it all up as a bad job.

"It was my dad who talked some sense into me. He knew the Bolton coaching had got me going all the wrong way. He talked me into giving it one more go with another club. But if all that was happening to me, how many other promising youngsters miss out the chance of making the grade because of the misguided belief of some coach?"

There was just a chance that Martin might have made the grade at cricket if he had given up soccer - he played for the England Grammar Schools XI. He says: "In the old days, there were several all-rounders who were internationals at both soccer and cricket, but it's not really possible now, what with close-season tours for both games.

In fact, Dobbo went on to win his first Under-23 cap as a centre half, later going into midfield. He says: "But even when you feel on top of the world, as I did when I got my first Under-23 game, you never know when everything is going to collapse on top of you again. For instance, just a couple of months after that highlight international, I broke a leg and to cap it all while I was still getting fit Burnley got the chop and were relegated."

Again he fought back, got fit and was a key figure as Burnley fought their way back into the First Division. With Dobbo as skipper. No wonder he talks with pride of the team spirit that ran through the club. "People said we were an unfashionable mob, playing in a sort of English equivalent of Siberia...but we got results and we got ‘em by playing good football."

The fact is that Martin Dobson is a born leader. When he moved on to Everton, the shock waves ran through the game at the amount of money involved, but manager Billy Bingham was sure he’d got a cool, calm, collected player of high pedigree. And Dobbo says: "I’ll not knock Burnley. Never. They were good to me and they let me play. But maybe we WERE unfashionable. I felt a terrific difference when I got to Goodison Park. We had team spirit at Turf Moor, but it’s encouraged every inch of the way at Goodison. They keep the players together as much as possible all the time...like giving us lunch together after training so we can really get to know each other.

As with Burnley, Dobbo still shows his goal-scoring flair at moments when it really matters. He had 12 out of 72 in the Burnley Championship season, popping up alone to clinch one point and sometimes two. In terms of hard statistics, this tough six-footer shot more than 40 goals for Burnley in a little over 130 matches, which is a fair percentage. Yet as Burnley fans still say: "There’s no way of measuring his value to the club as an inspiring leader who just didn’t flap." He says: "I’m honestly not the nervy type. I’ve learned not to rush things: to take things as they come, on the park and off it."

But he wouldn’t mind rushing ahead to the World Cup of 1978. He desperately wants that to happen. But with one reservation. "Some players love the limelight, love acting out the big star thing. But I like to get around the pressures we all feel sometimes by sliding home to my family. I'm just not one for the bright lights. Maybe I could be skipper on the park and let someone else make all the speeches." Sir Alf Ramsey introduced Dobbo to the international scene. Don Revie shares his predecessor's enthusiasm for the one-time give-away star. And yet it could have all been so different if Martin Dobson had been coached out of the game as a youngster.

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