It was in 1980 when Newcastle United showed interest in him and hired him in the team as school boy. Once the school teacher Hepworth put him stand for practicing autograph during the geography lecture in the class. He was asked why he was doing this in the class, he replied saying because he was going to be a famous footballer. Though, he earned fame but his childhood was not very well where he had to face lots of difficulties. He belonged to a poor family who had just one upstairs room and they had just one bathroom for whole family. Moreover, his father also a brain hemorrhage which made him to stay in the hospital for eight months.
He was first called by the national team in 1988 when the team was to play a friendly against the Denmark and there he impressed the coach a lot. He scored his first goal in the World Cup Qualifier against the Albania. After a match against the Czechoslovakia, he got his place in the team for helping England scoring four goals including one goal by alone himself. He was married to Sheryl who was his longtime friend. The marriage ceremony was held on in Hatfield in 1996 but the couple split their ways after just two years in 1998.