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an unfashionable club like Burnley.

Even Leicester’s Harry Maguire, with all of three caps to his name, coughed up that not long ago he was daunted at the prospect of facing a journeyman striker in League One.

Of course, this decision by Southgate to dial down the egos does not mean England are going to win the World Cup in Russia.

Serve

But you can’t help but think a team packed full of young, hungry and, yes, inexperienced talent, would not have lost to Iceland at Euro 2016, thinking the game was already in the bag.

Iceland had that aura that the Three Lions have more of now – a squad packed full of players of mainly equal standing who are desperate to serve their country.

When the Icelanders took the lead against Roy Hodgson’s men, you could hear the sound of England egos popping all over the pitch in Nice, with Wayne Rooney and Co clueless about how to recover against a bunch of upstarts.

Southgate may not have been a hugely popular or exciting pick, but he has been innovative in his approach to inspiring his men and giving them a sense of perspective, which included taking them to a Royal Marines boot camp.

Brave too in his decisions, such as first ditching Rooney and, more recently, two of his most experienced defensive options in Chelsea’s Gary Cahill and Chris Smalling of Manchester United.

This is no supposed ‘Golden Generation’. We’ve had that before and look where it got us.

But maybe these young guns will go for it this summer.

Okay, they might not win in Russia, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if they left us feeling proud of their efforts for once?