466: Gareth Southgate, England, Panini World Cup France 98

 Unlike the rest of us at A Sticker’s Worth 500 Words Mat Jolin-Beech is an actual journalist who, as you will see, has met some very interesting and famous people during his career. I’ve got a lot of time for today’s subject as a former Palace star and devotee of waistcoats even if he doesn’t pick (insert name here) who has been pulling up trees for (insert club here) for the England team. After all, we’re all human. Apart from Mat who is clearly a secret celebrity. 

*warning* There are going to be many shameless namedrops in this piece. *warning over*

 

My career has taken me to some interesting places, covering some interesting things. Well, that should be ‘interesting’. I’ve been on a Channel cruise for the naming ceremony for a new P&O ferry and met Dame Kelly Holmes (namedrop one) and the Independent’s travel editor Simon Calder (namedrop two). I’ve been to Deal Castle to witness Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller (three and four) attempting to fire Pukka Pies at the French. I can’t remember for the life of me why!

 

My time with Kent on Sunday also saw me head to Dover to cover the formal opening of the new seafront promenade and speak with Dame Vera Lynn (number five), as well as a trip to the immigration detention centre to speak with Esther Rantzen (number six). Not a namedrop here – but Utility Week saw me venture down into a Victorian sewer close to the Olympic Park in London, as well as a Victorian pumping station. You see – it’s all glamour!

 

But getting back to the point of this, another one of my Utility Week ventures took me to St George’s Park for an NJUG (National Joint Utilities Group – now Streetworks UK for all you utilities geeks out there). Before the lunch break there was a talk by Kevin Keegan (seven). All I really remember from that is that A: he’s short and B: he’s not a fan of Sir Alex Ferguson. Cue the fully professional selfie and autograph with him before grabbing some food.

 

Then, as part of the treat for the day we got a tour of the site. The £1m gym; indoor and outdoor replica Wembley pitches; the slightly bouncy indoor futsal hall; the fancy Hilton hotel on site; executive lounges; full scale recreation of the Wembley changing rooms; state of the art physio rooms and treatment facilities; and an autograph wall of all the players who had been there – including Neymar, Wayne Rooney, David Beckham and Eden Hazard. (eight, nine and ten – although I didn’t actually meet them)

They have old England shirts dotted around the place, including the famous red 1966 shirts and the grey Euro 96 shirt of semi-final heartbreak. The one made infamous by England manager Gareth Southgate. The at-the-time new England manager Gareth Southgate (number eleven) was rushing off to an Under-21 tournament but was spotted by another guy on the tour, and had enough time for a chat and the obligatory autograph. Other than being able to rock a jumper, and grow a decent beard, he came across as an extremely nice guy who made time for two utility journalists.

 

Plus, what makes things even better is that he masterminded one of the best England tournaments since Euro 96 by guiding the Three Lions to a World Cup semi-final and bringing hope and enjoyment back to the national team. I could have gone into depth about Southgate’s playing career (pretty decent) or his managerial career (pretty dismal until he entered the England set up) but this is more about the weird places and people you end up meeting in life. These also include Joe Pasquale, George Takei, Chrstine Ohuruogu, Dwain Chambers and Sir David Attenborough. (twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen and sixteen).

 

Shameless namedropping now over.