Family man Gareth has Butcher

RIGHT now is the time when the players will be feeling their most homesick, so the decision by Gareth Southgate to invite the families back into the camp yesterday is another masterstroke.

The fact you are in a semi-final does not sink in for quite a while. In 1990 we played in Naples, got back in the early hours and found out that one or two of the rooms of the players had been burgled by some of the staff, so that was not particularly helpful.

Several of the players had some strips taken and World Cup shirts – a bit of equipment. Nothing really dramatic, just irritating stuff. It was not good and put a bit of sour stuff onto things.

I was the captain and we had discussed before the quarter-finals against Cameroon inviting families to come out to the camp if we won.

The manager Sir Bobby Robson told me to come to him afterwards and discuss it further.

So the day after Cameroon I was down by the pool because we had to do a little bit of rehab. After I had done all that I was sunbathing and Bobby came and sat next to me.

He was asking my opinion of the team, how we were playing, how the players were feeling and all that – we were having a good chat, captain to manager. I then went on a two or three-minute spiel about how the opposition squads such as Germany had all had their families to visit and how our players were getting a bit homesick, and what a great thing it would be for morale to see our wives and kids.

All of a sudden I heard snoring. I looked around and Bobby had fallen fast asleep while I was talking.

I know I can be a bit boring, but I thought this was an important point to make.

So, standing up quietly, I went to the end of the pool and jumped in with the biggest running bomb you have ever seen, splashing water all over him right by the edge.

He woke up, we finished our conversation and three days later he had got the families all