Next time Gareth Southgate puts the band back together, they will know the task awaiting them at the World Cup in acoustic Qatar - Iran, the USA and possibly Wales or Scotland.
And at Charlton Athletic, a club with an enviable conveyor belt of young talent, academy director Steve Avory will be thankful for his role among the supporting cast in the rise of the teenager who now calls the tune with England. As a teacher at Hazelwick school in Three Bridges, near Crawley, Avory spent his first term trying to persuade Southgate to play cricket.
Although he could turn his arm over and hold a bat at the thin end – a trick some of the England cricket team's current top-order dunces have yet to master – 'Nord' (because his elocution was like TV presenter Denis Norden's ) had his heart set on playing football. A champion schoolboy triple jumper and decent 200 metres sprinter, Southgate could have taken his pick of several sports to pursue as a career option, and Avory's lobbying to get him in the school cricket team was always destined to meet a straight bat.
Down at Charlton's Sparrows Lane training ground, Avory's 21-year service mentoring young prospects is consecrated in the club's DNA. But he has always followed the progress of a pupil from his previous incarnation who looked cut out for leadership from an early stage. And 35 years on from their paths crossing at Three Bridges, he's leading the Three Lions to the World Cup.
“When I moved to the school in 1987, it was the summer term when cricket, athletics and tennis were the main sports on the agenda,” said Avory. “I did teach Gareth in that first term – I remember the group he was in, and my focus was trying to get him in the school cricket team.
“Batter or bowler? He was a very talented all-round athlete with a good eye for the ball, and his dad was an athletics coach. I also taught Dan Walker, the BBC presenter – he played cricket and football, but he wasn't quite as gifted as Gareth. Down the years I've bumped into Gareth, mainly through his FA connections or at conferences before the pandemic at St George's Park. He was by no means an extrovert character, but he was good academically and what happens naturally is that your peer group develop a certain respect for you, especially when you are so talented across a range of sports, but he was captain material for sure.
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“Other kids would look up to him because of his ability, and because of how measured he was as well. I'm genuinely pleased for him because I've followed his career from a distance all the way through. There were some tough times at Crystal Palace at the start, but Alan Smith saw something in him from an early stage and made him captain at 20. I can imagine that he dedicated himself as a young apprentice, just as I would be demanding of our young guys in the academy here at Charlton, to become the best he can on a daily basis. He was a thinker – not necessarily someone who was loud, but well-respected. He was a well-spoken, polite young man who didn't appear to have a steely determination off the field, But, my goodness, he was a hell of a competitor on it.”
Avory's work at Charlton speaks for itself. He is one of English football's unsung jewellers, polishing rough diamonds who are now dotted around the leagues. “The club's's record at producing capable young players was a factor in my decision to come here full-time,” he said. "I didn't really want to leave teaching at the time, but football coaching was always a big thing for me – Scott Parker was in my team when I first came here – and if I was going to make the step from the solid career that I had into football coaching, I wanted to join a club with a bit of pedigree about it.
“I didn't intend to stay here for more than 20 years, but I've always believed that longevity of staff is an important element of success both on the grass and the messages imparted to players you spend so much time trying to develop. Talent alone is not enough, and I've applied that maxim many times. I understand that players have dreams and I've got no problem with that, but they have to understand they more than the ability that got you here in the first place.”
