England national football team manager selecting former West Bromwich Albion teammate Don Howe as his chief coach. Robson's tenure included 28 qualifying matches, of which only one, against Denmark in 1983, resulted in a defeat. This contributed to England's failure to qualify for Euro 1984, and Robson offered his resignation. It was rejected by the FA chairman, Bert Millichip, and Robson went on to lead the England team to qualify for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. England were defeated in the quarter-final by Argentina with a brace of goals from Diego Maradona; the infamous "Hand of God" goal, and the "Goal of the Century"
Tony Hand play-offs, Durham Wasps again proved to be their nemesis. After beating Murrayfield 11–5 in the final of the Autumn Cup competition, Durham also knocked them out of the Wembley Semi-final 11–8 despite Hand scoring a Championship record 7 points in the match. Hand ended the 1987–88 season with 125 goals and 135 assists in 52 league and cup games having scored his 400th league goal against Whitley Warriors on 13 March. During the close season, Hand trained with Geneve-Servette and was offered a contract as their fourth import, but in the top Swiss league which allowed only three imports to