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organised and out they came. Sadly, though, it was only after we had lost the semi-final. We would have loved to have seen them before.
Being with family grounds you, makes you really relaxed and more comfortable. You are not missing them any more.
The more you are away, the more you miss them and the worse you feel. By seeing them on a regular basis it is more like being back in the UK.
This year, the families have been out all the way through the competition for certain days, which is brilliant. It is when you most want to be with your family, when you have had success and progressed. It is a lovely feeling to have.
What it does, more than anything else, is bring you down to earth, because family matters more than anything else.
It gives you a chance to put the World Cup on the back burner, which is difficult when you are all the time in with the other players and the press, wondering what is happening in the news back home. It actually gives you a chance to relax and unwind – and that process happens very quickly when you are with your families, which is lovely.
Gareth understands this and it is all part of what he has done to change the DNA of the entire squad.
There is a stability in terms of ‘this is what we do’ and ‘this is how we do it’. The format he has set up and the structure will take England even further forward in future years.
Then you wonder why this hasn’t been done before.
When you look at what we have invested in foreign rubbish – managers who have completely ruined any potential DNA we could have had to build on after 1990 – it has taken a long time for somebody to come along like Gareth and say, ‘This is what we should be doing for England’. It has reset the national identity for the best. In fairness, Bobby was a good planner, I just don’t think he was always given the opportunity to by an FA who he had to fight for everything. They were miles behind the times, never in sync with the manager. Now it is great – there are more forward-thinkers among the organisers and everybody is moving together. That point needs to be made, in fairness to the FA. They have supported Gareth and the results are there for everybody to see.