Mark Chamberlain thought he had the footballing world at his feet when he shared a Rio taxi with John Barnes in 1984 and discussed plans for the future.

England had just beaten Brazil 2-0, with Barnes scoring one of the greatest goals the Maracana had ever seen and Chamberlain playing a full part in the victory.

Many people believe Barnes never reached the heights he should have done after that historic evening, even though he went on to win two league titles and 79 caps.

So what would those critics have made of Chamberlain's subsequent travels? Here was a man who went from England regular to Sheffield Wednesday reserve in the space of a few months and ended up parading his skills in the lower divisions with Portsmouth, Albion and Exeter.

The flying winger, who started his career in a blaze of glory with Stoke City, had seen better days by the time he shared in one season of Albion's rapid descent to the bottom division and exile in Kent.

Now, as he coaches youngsters at Southampton's academy and turns out as player-manager for Fareham Town in the Wessex League, he admits events conspired against him making the most of his natural ability.

He said: "Of course I should have done better and with a bit of luck I would have done.

"I remember talking to John Barnes in Rio. I asked him if he was going to leave Watford because he was too good for them and I told him I wanted to get away from Stoke.

"He went to Liverpool and I ended up at Sheffield Wednesday. My agent said Chelsea were coming in for me but nothing came of it so I went to Wednesday.

"If I had gone to a bigger club at that stage things would have been a lot different. When John was at Liverpool he was the best player in England by a mile for quite a few years and I don't think I was that far behind him in the ability stakes."

Chamberlain will not be at Withdean when Stoke visit on Tuesday but the fondest memories of his career come from those early days in the red and white stripes.

He grew up in the Potteries following Chelsea for the simple reason that their dark blue kit with a single white stripe looked good on black and white television.

Having made the short move from Port Vale to the Victoria Ground, he was given full licence to strut his youthful skills tight to the right touchline while experienced campaigners like Micky Thomas, Sammy McIlroy, Paul Bracewell and Dave Watson kept the team on course for a top seven finish in the old first division.

He admitted: "My best memories are from my first season at Stoke. It was probably the best team I played in. We were in the UEFA Cup places for most of the season, which was rare for Stoke. We had a lot of experience in the side and some great players.

"Then Richie Barker tried to play the long ball tactics and these players were all good footballers who didn't want to play kick and run.

"We had quite a hard season fighting relegation. In the end Alan Hudson kept us up but we went down in my third season.

"I think Stoke needed to get rid of me. I was told Sheffield were not the club for me and I tried to get Stoke to keep me on but they wanted the money.

"Chris Waddle had just gone from Newcastle to Tottenham for £600,000 and I think Stoke saw that and wanted their six hundred grand as well."

Chamberlain never saw eye to eye with Owls boss Howard Wilkinson and found his individual flair conflicted with the Hillsborough masterplan.

He said: "Howard was not my type of manager and I was not his type of player. Wednesday paid £300,000 up front and the rest depended on appearances and England caps so he probably saved the club £300,000 by not playing me.

"I enjoyed the club and the city but I didn't enjoy working with Howard."

Chamberlain moved south in the summer of 1988 and has never left, though he admits his move to Portsmouth did not turn out the way he had hoped.

"Howard offered me more money but I wanted to be given a full chance. Portsmouth had just gone down but Alan Ball was a bit of a draw and they were getting good crowds and I thought they might go back up."

Within weeks, Wilkinson had left Wednesday, but it was too late to go back and Chamberlain's days in the top flight were over.

It was at Portsmouth that he began to wander ffrom the right wing.

Novice manager John Gregory used him at right back for a few games and was rewarded by one of the best goals of Chamberlain's career as he waltzed past tackles at Plymouth before whipping a left foot curler inside the far post.

It was a rare masterstroke at the time by Gregory. By the next away game, the experiment had been shelved and there was precious little flair on view as Albion and Pompey fought out a Boxing Day 0-0 draw at the Goldstone.

Jim Smith masterminded a resurgence at Fratton Park and brought Chamberlain into midfield for the FA Cup semi-final with Liverpool. It took Ronnie Whelan 15 minutes to recognise the threat that posed. His reckless challenge from behind earned a yellow card and ended Chamberlain's involvement in that high profile occasion.

Injuries were starting to play more of a part in his career and, when Smith finally lost patience in 1994, a move along the coast beckoned.

Chamberlain said: "I was only 75 per cent fit at the end of the season and way off the pace. Jim thought 'He's 32 and finished' and offered me a youth team job.

"I wanted to play until I was 35 and get to 500 league games so I turned it down and rightly so. In pre-season I was keeping up with the young quick ones and a lot of the boys thought Jim might change his mind, especially as I was captain, but he didn't.

"Brighton was not far away and they seemed not a bad club with a good following but it didn't really work out.

"They were having a lot of trouble in the boardroom. They had young lads coming in but I felt they were not being developed properly. If you look at those players now, only Jeff Minton is playing league football.

"We started the season quite promisingly but I got injured and so did Steve Foster, Colin Pates and Dean Wilkins. Things went badly after the first three months and, although we stayed up, they didn't want me after that.

"I ended up at Exeter and it was even worse than Brighton financially. I did it as a favour to their manager Peter Fox, an old mate from Stoke. I had gone with Airdrie on their Irish tour but nothing came of it so the Thursday before the season started I rang him up and said 'Go on then, I'll play for you'.

"It was frustrating going around the lower divisions but that is the way the game has gone. When I left Portsmouth I thought there would have been more offers.

"I ended up playing in the third division, living away from home and being given week-to-week contracts but there was nowhere else to go."

Things were so tough at Exeter that, when he left to take over as boss of Fareham in the Southern League, he found he was not taking a pay cut.

That was until the money ran out at Cams Alders. He tried his hand at other ventures before getting into coaching and returning to Fareham, where he is building a young side and, as he puts it, "playing wherever I am needed to plug gaps."

He keeps an eye on all his old teams, though admitting more of an allegiance to Port Vale than Stoke from his home patch, and is encouraged by the efforts of Micky Adams with the Seagulls.

He said: "We are not best mates but I know him from going for a drink in Southampton more than anything else. I tend to look out for young managers. It's not easy to work your way up but he has done it the right way.

"I'm putting my time in at Fareham and I would like it to lead somewhere else. It's a big step up to managing a league club, although I think I could do it, but any coaching jobs that come up, I will apply for."