WHY DAD WAS FIGHTING MAD FOR MY SHIRT
WHEN James Maddison celebrated his Three Lions debut last Thursday, he made his dad the happiest man at Wembley.
Gary Maddison had always dreamed that one day his son would play for England and when the midfielder became the 1,245th player to pull on the national shirt, there was only one man getting his hands on it afterwards.
Maddison admitted: “When I was a little kid, my dad always said to me, ‘If you ever play for England, I want your shirt’, so I had to give it to him.
“Playing for your country is the pinnacle. I’ve had to wait a little bit. I’ve been on the bench a few times, been in a few squads, but that’s made it all the more sweet.
“I’ll never forget that feeling, waiting to come on — that was special.”
The fact Maddison had to wait a couple of minutes between stripping down to his kit and coming on as a 64th-minute substitute for Alex Oxladechamberlain only added to the sense of occasion for the Leicester star.
And when the final whistle sounded, there was no way that he was going to hand over his jersey to the member of the Montenegro backroom staff who asked for it.
“You’d have had to fight me to get that off me,” added Maddison. “As I was waiting to come on, I kind of just took it all in.
“Representing your country is a big thing and it’s hard in the moment to realise what’s going on.
“But I’ve just represented England, the country I grew up in, and the dream I had as a young boy has come true.”
The 22-year-old joined Leicester from Norwich during the 2018 World Cup and, 17 months on, he is now a candidate for the next major tournament, Euro 2020.
He added: “You can always dream of playing for England, but you’re never quite sure how far away you actually are. As long as I’m doing well at club level the rest will take care of itself.”
Maddison, an injury doubt for today’s game, has an eye on next summer, but he hasn’t forgotten his past, and remains close to those in Coventry’s academy who put him on the path to his dream.
He said: “I owe it all to them because I wouldn’t be where I am now without the development stage at Coventry academy.
“So I always go back and see the smiles on the faces and remember I was one of the little lads there.
“I was in that position myself and here I am now. It’s a good message to them to show it can happen.”