JACK NEEDS A HEAD FOR FIGHTS NOW
TIM SHERWOOD has warned Jack Grealish not to let his head drop over his latest England snub.
Aston Villa skipper Grealish was widely expected to be called into Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the Nations League games but was ignored.
Sherwood, who gave the 24-year-old his first Premier League start when he was Villa boss, says the midfielder just needs to be patient.
Sherwood knows all about waiting for an England call-up because he was 30 when he finally made his debut.
He said: “Jack’s been unfortunate because Gareth can’t pick everyone.
“Gareth says Jack’s unfortunate because of Mason Greenwood, Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling but he’s more in the bracket of Phil Foden and Mason Mount. They’re the two he should be being compared with.
“Jack needs to stick with it. He is the nearest thing to Gazza I’ve seen and Gazza is the most difficult opponent I ever played against.”
Grealish represented the Republic of Ireland up to Under-21 level but then switched his allegiance to England and Sherwood says he should not consider another U-turn.
He added: “If I was Jack I wouldn’t be thinking of switching back to Ireland.
BY DAVE ARMITAGE
He’s made his mind up and he just has to be patient.
“I know how hard that can be. I won the title with Blackburn, I was in incredible form and thought I was one of the best players around.
“Yet I must have been called up 28 times and never got picked until I moved to Tottenham.”
Meanwhile, Kalvin Phillips’ England call-up before he has kicked a ball in the Premier League is not the first time he has been in the right place at the right time.
Phillips was signed by Leeds in 2010, aged 14, after they spotted him at a local youth tournament he had only gone to watch.
He went to support his mates at Wortley Juniors when a couple of injuries gave him his chance.
Phillips made a crunching tackle in front of Leeds scout Sonny Sweeney and former Wortley coach Ian Thackray said: “Kalvin tackled this young kid right in front of him.
“The lad went flying up in the air, the ball rolled away and Kalvin sort of dragged it back while he was on the floor.
“He hit a ball with his right foot to the opposite wing and we were on the attack. I got a phone call a week later asking for his details – and the rest, as they say, is history.”
TWENTY years on and former Celtic manager Martin O’Neill can still pinpoint the 90 minutes that oversaw a power shift in Glasgow.
On this day in 2000, Celtic’s 6-2 Premier League win over Rangers stunned Dick Advocaat’s side, who had been the dominant force in the country.
Henrik Larsson’s audacious chip over Stefan Klos remains the iconic moment of that afternoon but the game itself was massive in embedding a sense of belief within a side who had lost all sense of identity, according to O’Neill.
Prior to O’Neill’s arrival, Celtic had won three titles in 18 years.
The Irishman delivered the club’s first Treble for 32 years in his inaugural season and went on to win three titles, three Scottish Cups and a League
BY ALISON McCONNELL Cup. There might have been more silverware – the 2003 title was lost by a single goal on goal difference, the 2004-5 title conceded on the final day by one point to goals scored in the final five minutes.
But that win over rivals Rangers was monumental in setting the foundations for what followed.
O’Neill. said: “Psychologically it was massive for us.
“This was a team of players who had lost the previous league title by 21 points.
“We had brought in a few players – Chris Sutton had come in, Joos Valgaren too – but at that point the spine of the team was still from the precious campaign. Neil Lennon, Alan Thompson and Didier Agathe all arrived later that season.
“For those players to go out and win the way they did just gave everyone the most enormous lift.
“It did feel like a turning point. It gave the club, the players and the supporters a real sense that this wasn’t just a good start to the season.
“It did give the feeling it was the beginning of something. It was the belief it offered. The manner of the win, the scoreline, the way they had asserted themselves in the game.
“It was a real springboard moment. All of a sudden there is a genuine realisation in the dressing room about their own capability and the direction the team and the club were moving.
“And you have to remember too, just how strong that Rangers team was under Dick Advocaat.
“They had been the dominant force in the country and there were a team full of experienced international players.”
O’Neill smiled afterwards that he couldn’t relax until the sixth had gone it but the afternoon itself was set in a staggering opening 15 minutes.
Goals from Sutton, Stiliyan Petrov and Paul Lambert had given Celtic an unimaginable lead before the game hit the 15-minute mark with O’Neill recalling how surreal his first experience of the derby was.
He said: “It is a cliche but people tell you that you don’t know what you are walking into in this particular fixture and I have to say I couldn’t have scripted a better start.
“It was breathtaking stuff. Chris was a player I felt always had the potential to be important for us but that day you really saw it.
“He went on to be a sensational