Boy from Bury who became the best right back in the world
Kieran Trippier has won the World Cup for england before. and he did it on penalty kicks, too. His Pe teacher Lee Garcka at the Woodhey High School, Bury takes up the story: ‘When Kieran was 15, we put him through a football coaching qualification. We had a mini World Cup where each candidate coached a group of 10-year-olds.
‘Kieran had the ‘england’ team and his kids won on penalties in the final. Maybe it’s an omen! at school, we had him playing in attacking midfield, but he was always everywhere.
‘He was our penalty taker and i do not recall him ever missing one. When he belted his penalty in against Colombia in the shootout, i said to my wife that it was exactly the same spot where he scored for us in the County Cup final in 2007. He’d scored both goals in normal time and then he stepped up in the shootout.
‘He took things seriously. even when we had table tennis tournaments he had to win.’
at school, Trippier was the man for all sports. He competed in basketball, athletics and crosscountry competitions and still holds his school’s 400m record.
For england, Trippier’s star has taken longer to rise. aged 27, he has a modest return of 10 international caps but has emerged as one of Gareth Southgate’s indispensables.
He has harnessed his boundless energy up and down the touchline with robust defending and also produced defining moments of quality from set-pieces.
The ‘Bury Beckham’, as he is dubbed on social media, has provided corners for goals by John Stones and Harry Kane against Tunisia, while Kane has also won two penalties from corners he has delivered.
Trippier’s story begins in the suburbs of Manchester, where parents eleanor and Chris raised him with his three brothers. at the age of eight, he trained with Manchester United and Manchester City but — against his father’s preference as a United fan — Trippier plumped for the blue half.
His games swiftly became family affairs where the whole Trippier clan, including grandparents, would turn out to support the young talent. Grandmother Maureen would often be seen pointing out to Trippier where he went wrong on the way back to the car.
His parents are out in russia but the World Cup has always produced special moments for this family. For the 2010 World Cup, dad Chris bought a 10-foot high pole to fly his england flags in the street. The television set was moved into the garden. not everyone was happy, however.
‘The council made him take the flag down, but he didn’t,’ said Trippier. ‘They wrote letters and everything but he said he wasn’t taking it down. i don’t know who complained but it’s hilarious. My dad is mad for england. i’ll never forget my debut for england against France last June. My parents were crying their eyes out.’
if Chris and eleanor were in tears then, heaven knows what state they were in after Trippier stepped up with such poise to resuscitate england’s shootout against Colombia. after Jordan Henderson’s miss, Trippier was next up and did not flinch.
it has not been an easy ride to the summit. at Manchester City, Trippier was part of a generation of young talent whose maturity coincided with the billion-pound investment of the club’s Abudhabi owners and opportunities did not arrive with Micah richards and Pablo Zabaleta ahead of him in the pecking order.
even so, a feeling prevails among his former City coaches that the club ought to have kept him on rather than allowing him to join Burnley at the age of 19.
Former City academy boss Jim Cassell said: ‘i was surprised by his release. We have four former City academy boys at this World Cup — Kasper Schmeichel, Dedryck Boyata, John Guidetti. This structure was developed before the money came in.
‘When i arrived in 1997, we had nothing for the academy. We played at a local girls school. now Kieran is the fifth england player we produced, after Shaun WrightPhillips, Joey Barton, Micah richards and Daniel Sturridge.’
Trippier remains in touch with City coaches Steve eyre and Cassell, texting after matches.
eyre recalls Trippier’s habit of targeting the City groundsman with long-range shots when he was riding his lawnmower at Platt Lane. all of a sudden, he’d get a ball to the back of the head and would whip round, but the culprit was never in sight. a complaint was filed to eyre — who knew instinctively it was Trippier but did nothing about it.
‘in good faith i told him i would reprimand the culprit but with no real intention,’ said eyre. ‘i just saw it as a future World Cup star practising his accuracy.’
Cassell added: ‘He could be Jack The Lad and we had to manage the spirit. i wanted him to have that edge. Sport is hard. Don’t be too nice and soppy. Look at what Colombia got up to the other night — you have to stand up to that. i gave him lifts home as he lived near me. i knew what the area was like and what the youngsters could get up to. i told him, “if you live right, you will make it”.
He matured on loan at Barnsley, where his debut was alongside the West Brom manager Darren Moore in a demanding back line.
Trippier was nicknamed Stewie Griffin, the cartoon baby in Family
Guy, due to his shaved head. But his performances soon impressed, as they did after being signed by eddie Howe at Burnley and then nurtured by Sean Dyche.
Trippier’s deliveries became a core part of Burnley’s game plan. He studies videos of David Beckham and andrea Pirlo and spent long hours after sessions at City rehearsing his crosses on the run.
even now at Tottenham, he and Ben Davies do the same. His £3.5million signing must count as one of the shrewdest of Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure and the team has not been hurt by Kyle Walker’s departure.
Despite Walker and Trippier being rivals for a position at Tottenham, they remained close friends having met in the england youth groups. When Gareth Southgate took the squad for a boot camp with the Marines last summer, they shared a tent.
Cassell said: ‘ Kieran’s the best crosser of the ball england have had since Beckham — on the move, first time, great vision, long and short. That comes from his background as midfielder. We moved him to right back in his later teens.
‘His marking has really improved. We were on to him — “Get tighter, stop the cross”. He has defended superbly at the World Cup and it makes him the perfect player.
‘He is the best right back in the world at this tournament. There is one person to credit for that. Kieran.’