Ask any football fan of a certain age their favourite England goal and Paul Gascoigne’s majestic finish against Scotland in Euro 96 will invariably crop up.

The exquisite flick over the confounded Colin Hendry and sublime volley past goalkeeper Andy Goram will be for ever etched into the memories of Three Lions supporters.

Only the most obsessive of fans, however, will remember the player who worked the ball into the path of the peroxide-blond Gascoigne to score the most famous goal of a generation.

It is a glorious passage of play that perhaps encapsulates the quietly effective career of Darren Anderton.

The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder was involved in several epic England matches during the late Nineties, playing alongside the likes of David Beckham, Alan Shearer and Michael Owen.

It is somewhat ironic that a player often lampooned for being injury-prone should have enjoyed such an integral role in some of the most iconic moments in English football.

Aside from “that goal”, Anderton played every game for England at Euro 96, including the 4-1 drubbing of Holland, as well as experiencing the all-too-familiar penalty shoot-out pain against Germany in the semi-final.

He was even part of the infamous “dentist chair” incident in Hong Kong, which inspired Gascoigne’s premeditated goal celebration against the Scots at a sun-kissed Wembley Stadium.

“I was very fortunate,” said Anderton, now 43. “I played in every [England] game of Euro 96, so of course I was there for the Gazza goal. I like to remind people that it was me who passed it to him!

“Gazza’s goal celebration, the dentist chair incident in Hong Kong and the victory over Holland — I was part of so many things that people grew up loving.

“It was a great time for me and it’s nice people still remember what I was part of.”

The first international football tournament to be held in England since the 1966 World Cup, Euro 96 captured the hearts and minds of a nation.

With the Britpop phenomenon at its peak and the explosion of cash in the Premier League, football had become the new rock‘n’roll.

And for that memorable summer, Anderton and his England team-mates took centre stage.

“Football was everything [during Euro 96],” he remembers. “It was a tournament in our home country and, of course, everyone was up for it. It was madness and so enjoyable to be part of.

“Not only did we have a good team, we had good lads — there were no individuals. Gazza was a megastar but he was still one of the lads.

“Whenever ‘Football’s Coming Home’ [the England football anthem] comes on I still get goose bumps. We should have won Euro 96, no doubt about it.”

Anderton continued as a mainstay of the England team under the next manager Glenn Hoddle.

He played at the 1998 World Cup in France, where Owen scored “that goal” against Argentina and England once again crashed out on penalties.

“I thought the team we had in 1998 was good enough to have a chance of winning the World Cup,” Anderton said.

“We got a bit unlucky in the draw and had to play Argentina [in the quarter-finals], but we battered them in the first half and ended up going in at half-time at 2-2.

“Michael Owen scored the goal that the whole world loved and Becks got sent off.

“From then on we were just trying to hang on although Sol [Campbell] scored a header from a corner that was wrongfully disallowed. Then we lost on penalties again!”

The technically gifted Anderton won 30 England caps between 1994 and 2001. He agrees with Jamie Carragher’s recent accusation that it has “never been easier” to win an England call-up, although he does not level the blame at manager Roy Hodgson’s door.

“[The number of foreign players] has had an impact; it’s had an impact on everything,” Anderton said.

“When I started at Spurs I had a bad three months, then I had a good 14-15 months, and then I got called up — there was a chance I’d be ready for it.

“Now you’ve got Dele Alli at Spurs, whose had a great start to the season, played five games, and now he’s an England international. I don’t think he’s ready but there’s no pool of players to pick from.

“That’s the problem. It’s great for the Premier League but not great for England.”

Anderton, who has visited Bermuda to play in the Hackers Cup golf tournament, joined Birmingham City after leaving White Hart Lane after 12 seasons, before making the short journey to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

He then dropped down to League One side Bournemouth on a “pay-as-you-play” basis, scoring a spectacular 40-yard free kick on his debut at home to Scunthorpe.

It was at Dean Court where Anderton’s passion for the game was reignited, playing in a side that included Eddie Howe, who is now the Bournemouth manager.

Howe has led the club on an incredible journey from League Two strugglers to the Premier League, via a brief stint as manager at Championship side Burnley.

It is a transformation that Anderton certainly did not envisage.

“I don’t think anyone could have ever imagined what Bournemouth have done since then, not even Eddie,” said Anderton, who retired just shy of his 38th birthday.

“Eddie had really bad knees and I remember him sitting on the back of the bus all iced up. He could only play one game every two weeks and to be fair to Kevin Bond, the manager at the time, he said ‘look, you’ve done your coaching badges, why don’t you become player-coach and see if you want to do it.

“Once Eddie did that he just loved it. When he got the manager’s job he was very young but he just took to it with ease. He’d done his knees at Portsmouth and never really played for them in the Premier League, but he knew the game. He was very thorough and you could tell he’d have a chance of being a good manager. He’s done an unbelievable job.”

Anderton hung up his boots just one game short of 600 appearances, coming off the substitutes’ bench to score the winning goal at home to Chester.

For a player cruelly dubbed as “sicknote”, it was a more than healthy way to finish a distinguished career.