Gareth Southgate Reveals Reason Why England World Cup Victory Could Be Bigger Than '66
Gareth Southgate has hinted England's players would go down as bigger legends than the winners of the 1966 World Cup with victory in Russia - and all because of the powers of social media.
England are currently one game away from the World Cup final, with a crunch semi-final tie against Croatia on Wednesday. The winner of the tie will go on to face France or Belgium at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on Sunday afternoon.
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It would be England's first major final since '66 were they to succeed, when Sir Alf Ramsey led the Three Lions to World Cup glory. And quoted by the Mirror, the 47-year-old admitted that the past winners had come up in the squad's discussions.
He said: “We’ve talked, touched briefly, certainly, on the team which won. How they’re still held and revered.
“We also feel we’ve had events on when we’ve been in camp when some of those guys [from 1966] have been in, when the road was named at St George’s after Sir Alf.
“I’ve met quite a few of those players and we know exactly how they’re held and perhaps in the modern era that would be even crazier, social media and everything else, the global thing is so much bigger.”
Southgate has been praised for the relationship he has built with the media and fans as the bond is something never seen before.
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It is rumoured that Southgate allows his players to watch videos on social media of fan reactions back home after the team have won, which can only motivate the players further.
