Southgate will welcome WAGs

GARETH SOUTHGATE will allow the WAGs into the England camp if they qualify for next year’s World Cup. Sven-Goran Eriksson’s 2006 campaign turned into a circus in Germany, while Fabio Capello’s training camp in South Africa was regarded as a prison camp. Roy Hodgson’s decision to allow Wayne Rooney an extended holiday in Las Vegas before Euro 2012 backfired when he lost fitness. Southgate will try to strike the right balance in Russia. ‘I will encourage the families to come and see the lads the day after games,’ he said. ‘For some players that is hugely important and we want that environment where the players are relaxed,’ he said. ‘It becomes a bubble when there’s nothing else in your life and the small things become much bigger than they should be and there’s nothing else to talk about.’