This should be the peak for England’s young stars, and not like visiting a war zone
AN ancient pre-World Cup tradition in this country is the assessing of the England hotel.
This comes in handy when reasons for failure are needed following an early exit. If the gaff is too opulent the “pampered prima donnas” are accused of swanning around in the lap of luxury and losing all touch with their roots.
If too dull and isolated the narrative switches to the stupidity of keeping young men locked up in a prison without enough mental stimulus, hence their unadventurous and stale performances.
The ForRestMix Club Hotel in a remote part of northern Russia, likened by one former guest to “a transit hotel in Poland”, looks like falling into the latter category. But if the past is anything to go by, it doesn’t matter how many cinemas or swimming pools it has because at some point players will view it as a huge goldfish bowl in which they wait to be scooped up and hung out to dry.
As Jamie Carragher explained, writing about how he never enjoyed being at a World Cup: “We lived in a bubble inside the England hotel and seemed to be adversely influenced by circumstances which other nations dealt with better.”
Raheem Sterling took the rap at the last tournament, branding himself “The Hated One” after receiving obnoxious stick on social media and Rio Ferdinand has warned the players heading to Russia that one of them “will come home as a scapegoat.”
Which must make them feel like they’re sitting in the Apprentice house waiting for Alan Sugar’s stubby finger to descend.
Gareth Southgate’s greatest achievement since becoming manager has been to persuade outsiders to treat his players as he does: with respect and as men. That’s why he told all his squad to open up in one-on-ones with the media last week.
And the result was overwhelmingly positive. But he did something even more important the day before that. He brought in former Royal Marines, who lost limbs in battle before picking themselves up and rebuilding their lives, to give a talk.
They told the players to park any fears of what lay ahead and focus on the positives. They told them they too had once been young men sent abroad for their country, but their mission had been life and death, whereas the team were going to a World Cup.
Andy Grant was one of those marines. He has a book out called You’ll Never Walk which tells of him losing a leg in Afghanistan but going on to become the world’s fastest single leg amputee over 10km.
Its title comes from a tattoo of Liverpool FC’s crest on his calf before he was blown up. When the surgeon cut through his leg he removed the word Alone, leaving You’ll Never Walk on show.
The players laughed at that, were inspired by his talk and took a copy of the book. Southgate said those marines had given his men a “huge perspective” on what pressure really meant.
Carragher offered it too when he wrote: “If I had my time again, my attitude would be different. If I could go back (to a World Cup), I would give myself a shake and demand I soak it up and revel in it.” So here’s some advice to those players sitting in that Russian hotel: Stay off social media, get hooked on a good Netflix series, read Andy Grant’s book and know that however hostile the reaction to your performances may at times seem, you haven’t been flown to a war zone.
You’re playing a game you are extremely good at, reaching the peak of all you’ve ever worked for and in touching distance of a high you may never get to taste again. So go out and embrace every single second of it.