Big Interview: Graeme Le Saux on England, Gareth Southgate and national prospects

The former Three Lions defender, born on the island of Jersey, was part of a five-man panel in place to decide England’s next boss after Sam Allardyce was forced to step down following last year’s newspaper exposé.

Le Saux joined ex-Leeds boss Howard Wilkinson, and FA chiefs Dan Ashworth, Martin Glenn and Greg Clarke for Gareth Southgate’s interview process last year. The former England Under-21s manager was overwhelming favourite to succeed Allardyce.

Southgate, 47, was appointed last November and has won three of his six internationals since being in permanent charge.

Chelsea hero Le Saux was capped 36 times by England but it is his education and professional standing that delivered him a place on the trusted FA advisory panel. During a speech at Shrewsbury’s Lord Hill Hotel he told the story of being renowned as ‘the intelligent footballer who read The Guardian’.

He shared England international squads with Southgate. Le Saux knew long before that official meeting that the ex-Villa defender had the making of a high-profile boss.

“He was inquisitive, intelligent, motivated with good leadership skills – he had all of those things as a player,” remarked Le Saux.

“His experience at Middlesbrough was difficult for him as he came straight out the game into it. So he didn’t have the other tools you perhaps need.

“He’s worked with the under-21s and really got to know those players.

“I look at him now and I think he really owns that role – I think he’s handled everything that’s been thrown at him really well.

“He came into the job on the back of Sam losing it and he stepped up, had four games (as caretaker manager) which were a great audition and earned the right to be the manager.”

But as our national side find themselves in a transition from a supposed golden era on to the next batch of exciting individuals, Le Saux believes Southgate has a major ace up his sleeve in guiding through the current and future generation. “I want any England manager to do well,” he added. “I think for Gareth there’s a real opportunity there for us to make sure the team continue to grow and the young players feel part of that.

“It will create pathways and with Gareth he understands the England philosophy, what’s going on behind the scenes, he embraces all of it.

“While it’s all about immediate success, any sport is, underpinning that there has to be some really good values and a good infrastructure.

“We’ve got to sustain that for not just the next tournament but the next six tournaments.”

England sit top of their European Qualification Group F after recent wins against Malta and Slovakia.

Le Saux is excited by the next breed of England talent coming through. The likes of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Marcus Rashford are playing regular football for their clubs and can be the shining lights of the future around a settled group of team-mates.

“I look at England and I think we’re much more realistic now,” he said.

“Every international team is going to have some exceptional talent then think ‘Oh, if only we were a little better in that area’.

“I look at most of our positions on the pitch and I believe we’ve got good cover in most places. At full-backs we’re covered, and with the centre-backs, you can make a case for a decent pairing.

“We need everyone to be fit at the same time. Daniel Sturridge hasn’t played properly for a long time and there’s Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and Jermain Defoe, who won’t be around forever.

“I think the supporters are more realistic.”

Allardyce was appointed following Roy Hodgson’s disastrous 2016 European Championships, where England bowed out to minnows Iceland.

But the challenge of guiding England to that elusive major championship success has moved on to Southgate.

According to Le Saux, success may not lie in the squad’s depth of talent, but in the way the players can deal with the extreme pressure forced on them.

“All I want is to watch a tournament and see England play in that relaxed way that we’ve seen them in games,” said the former Blackburn, Chelsea and Southampton full-back.

“Relaxed and focused, not feeling the pressure and questioning themselves.

“The more we can move away from an Iceland-type of performance, the better we’ll be and we’ll be more reassured that players aren’t thinking ‘What’s everyone going to say if we lose this game’, instead thinking ‘Let’s win this game’.

“That’s there because of this pressure. We’ve got to release that somehow, it’s a tough job for Gareth. I think we’ve got some tremendous players, some real quality in that squad coming through and everything needs to align, despite the hurdles that domestic football unintentionally in our way.

“Unfortunately because the guys don’t get to play together that often, it’s hard to create that collective spirit. You all want it, you all want the same thing, but it won’t happen because you want it, you’ve got to make it happen.

“That’s why I think it’s brilliant for the under-20s, they’d been together for five weeks in Japan and then Korea this summer, they won the under-20s World Cup. Let’s not get carried away, but that’s a fantastic achievement.

“All of that experience they have together, we have to find a way of keeping that going. The hardest thing is going to be getting those guys minutes at club level.”

Le Saux’s route to 36 caps for his country, league titles and domestic and European honours was heavily influenced by grassroots football in his native Jersey, with its population of a little over 100,000, not renowned for carving out sporting stars.

“I had no chance whatsoever of becoming a professional footballer,” he laughed.

“The population was 75,000 then. There was a lot of sport played but all locally, occasionally we went over to England to play games but I didn’t have the exposure to a high level of football.

“It didn’t really matter. I was very dedicated because I loved it so much.

“For me it was a great distraction from everything else in life. One of the great things about growing up in Jersey is that there’s a lot of outdoor space. I was on my bike, down the beach. I was fit.

“From the age of 13 to 16 I had trials in England but I was always sent home because I wasn’t good enough. They kept inviting me and I kept picking myself up to go back.

“I never took it personally. If you love what you do you won’t let someone stop you doing it because they say ‘you’re not good enough’.

“At 18 I got a lucky break at Chelsea. If you look at it now, that’s very unusual at the age of 18.”