Harry needs split personality
HARRY MAGUIRE says his feet were planted firmly back on the ground when six days after the World Cup semi-final he found himself at the home of a Northern Premier League side.
But even while at a pre-season friendly he realised just how much his world had changed.
“When I came home I watched Gainsborough versus Chesterfield,” he said. “Both my brothers played for either side so it was a good family occasion.”
Laurence Maguire scored as the National League team won 4-0 against Joe Maguire’s Gainsborough but it was what happened at half-time that sticks in Maguire’s mind.
“The club organised it really well and enabled me to watch the game in the first half and do a few signatures during the break,” he said. “But it was mad. I had a pretty long queue.
“I tried to get through as many as I could. They restricted them to one photo or a signature each. There must have been a good few hundred.
“That was probably the busiest place I’ve been but it was nice.”
Maguire is well aware keeping your feet on the ground is one thing but that England still need to be climbing the rungs of international football with his help, starting with Saturday’s UEFA Nations League match against Spain.
“As a team, we have come so far in the last year and I really believe we’re still on a ladder,” he added.
“There is a lot of improvement to come from us, as you have seen at the World Cup, but I think we can now focus on challenging the elite.”