SPORTS AGENDA Gareth trusts stars not to do a Rooney

ENGLAND’S World Cup squad are being trusted to go on holiday at the end of the season without going off the rails before joining camp ahead of Russia 2018.

Gareth Southgate briefed clubs at yesterday’s Premier League meeting that he was allowing players a week’s break before the two warm-up friendlies against Nigeria and Costa Rica.

For Euro 2016, which ended with a humiliating defeat by Iceland, hopeless former England boss Roy Hodgson started his build-up the day after the end of the Premier League season.

Hodgson was concerned about players following the example of Wayne Rooney, who famously went on a trip to Las Vegas before Euro 2012. So, two years ago the FA asked permission from the Premier League for the players’ early release, to help Hodgson keep them under one roof.

But Southgate is happy for his players to have a holiday after a strenuous club season, confident that none of his young squad would risk their fitness by going on a long-haul trip to a party venue, which Rooney later admitted he regretted.

England’s preparation for the World Cup is also said to be more advanced than it was before the European Championship in France.

So there was no need for the FA to seek favours from the Premier League yesterday, merely outline their plans. The relationship between the two football authorities is good, with clubs releasing players for international matches at all levels without the conflicts that previously occurred. ANYONE

watching the progress of Tottenham’s new stadium would be sceptical about it being ready for the start of the 2018-19 season, with the roof still a long way from completion. But again chairman Daniel Levy (above) said yesterday he was ‘very confident’ Spurs would start the next campaign there. THE dysfunctional relationship between kit suppliers Nike and the FA and Team England agents 1966 was exposed when the US company — seemingly purely chasing the youth market — mainly ignored traditional press for their shambolic reveal this week of the new England World Cup strips. This compares with the FA, whose media policy still prioritises national newspaper access to players and management. In turn, Nike blamed 1966’s strict regulations around England player interviews for the lack of print media on their guest list — flatly denied by 1966. THE annual Sport Industry Awards — where buying a table or two seems a key factor in the decision process — reached a new low yesterday when they announced that their main sponsor BT Sport had been shortlisted in five award categories.