THE moment I saw him play I knew. Here was a player who should never again be left out of the England team.
Who is absolutely vital to our success under Sven Goran Eriksson. Who could yet be the key to our lifting the trophy at Euro 2016.
No, not Wayne Rooney. NICKY BUTT. That's right, Nicky Butt. The most unsung, unfancied, unpretentious of England's winners on Wednesday night. The same player that quite probably won't make Manchester United's team to face Real Madrid this week.
The same guy that rated barely a mention the following day as the nation lost its heart to a boy of 17.
Rooney is an exceptional talent, no doubt about that. People keep comparing him to Paul Gascoigne — but Gazza was a young man in his 20s when he finally made it into the England team.
The player Rooney reminds me of is Duncan Edwards, one of my childhood heroes. The same confidence, the same sensation of watching a man in a boy's body. Completely different styles, of course, but it still sent a chill up my spine to watch a player of his age so totally at home in such intimidating surroundings.
I even began to wonder whether Alan Shearer now regrets his decision to remain outside the England squad, now the country has found its Craig Bellamy. And yet, as impressed as I was by Rooney, I thought the source of England's victory — indeed, the player whose presence puts no limit on what this team can achieve — is Butt.
Don't worry whether he gets into United's team every week.
That argument has always been a weak one to me. After all, where is the shame in being fourth in the queue behind Roy Keane, Juan Sebastian Veron and Paul Scholes?
It is like being understudy to Roberto Carlos at Real Madrid. You could be the second-best left-back in the world and you still wouldn't get in.
Butt has a problem at United that he doesn't have for England because Keane is the best around at his job. But Keane cannot get in the way for England.
I have made no secret of my admiration for him in the past. But watching the way Sven set his team out on Wednesday it was clear Butt's importance to the team could be about to grow considerably.
Maybe that is the influence of Brian Kidd as his coach. If it is, Brian has proved his worth already.
There is nobody in Eriksson's squad capable of doing what Butt did against Turkey, screening the back four in such a disciplined, unselfish way. It was a fantastic manoeuvre.
Defensive midfield is not a job many footballers are happy to do.
Anybody good enough to play for his country obviously fancies himself a bit and the biggest problem facing a coach is to get one of his men to fulfil a role that is not glamorous and often goes unnoticed.
It took me a long while to persuade Paul Ince he was the right man to do it in Euro 96. And I have seen Steven Gerrard cause as many problems for his own team as he does for the opposition by not sticking to the task when required by Sven.
Butt seems different. Whether it is because he has spent so long behind Keane in the Old Trafford pecking order, whether it is because he is simply a sensible, level-headed lad, but he does not seem to have to get over his ego like some of the others.
Maybe Butt just understands there is no more valuable job for the team than being the guy that anchors the midfield machine.
Think of those that have performed the role in the past. Dunga for Brazil in 1994, Didier Deschamps for France in 1998, Gilberto Silva for Brazil last summer. These are players, always in the thick of the action.
Those in the game invariably recognise it. I remember reading an interview with Pele during the World Cup in which he singled Butt out as one of the players of the tournament. A lot of people expressed surprise. Why?
Pele was the greatest — but even he knows what makes a team work is the blend of ability and common sense.
For me, watching England's game on Wednesday, Butt was the difference. Against Liechtenstein four days earlier, I had been startled by just how quickly the opposition were in to our back four.
We were getting the worst of both worlds. Gerrard and Paul Scholes were screening and playing too deep, yet neither had the discipline to do the job properly, so we were frequently left vulnerable. The result was a team that should have been nowhere near our penalty area had chances to score.
But Turkey, the superior opposition, struggled to find a way through, because we made the best of our resources. Scholes could still do his tackling, but high up the field where he was still an attacking threat.
And when Turkey did work an opening they had Butt to deal with before coming up against the defence. Immediately, we were more solid.
With the talent we have this is a way of playing that could make England contenders for the tournament. Not because of one result — but because we at last have a structure that combines the best of the manager's beliefs with the strengths of the players available. It is a good blend and a base on which to build.
And I haven't even started on the potential of Rooney yet.
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