Gareth Southgate was sharp as a tack despite the early start as he joined the talkSPORT Breakfast, and was forced to take some friendly teasing from ex-Scotland adversary Ally McCoist.
The England manager probably got a bit more than he bargained for on Tuesday’s show as, after some rightly serious questions about the Three Lions’ Euro 2020 plans and hopes to lift the nation after lockdown, things turned a bit silly… and a little bit personal!
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As is tradition on the show, Southgate was subjected to the talkSPORT Breakfast quiz as he took on Ally with only pride at stake.
And for those who don’t know Coisty that well, he’s definitely the competitive sort, and didn’t miss an opportunity to stick one in Southgate’s ribs when given the opportunity.
With the contest tied, host Laura Woods asked the all-important tiebreaker question, and it was a doozy.
“England and Scotland have enjoyed a 150-year-old rivalry, playing a total of 114 times, but how many goals have been scored in those games? Closest to the pin wins.”*
“Woah… I mean there were some big scores in the old days,” said Southgate, to which McCoist replied with absolutely no hesitation (or remorse): “Yeah, that was when you were defending!”
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But if you thought that was harsh, just wait until you read Southgate’s response!
The conversation then went onto England and Scotland’s iconic Wembley showdown at Euro 96 which, incredibly, was 25 years ago.
Southgate started that game, with McCoist coming off the bench. Of course we all know what the outcome was; you’re probably conjuring a mental picture of Paul Gascoigne’s incredible goal and even better celebration right now.
And Southgate didn’t miss a beat when the chance came for some payback to poor Coisty.
Go on, gaffer!
On the game, Southgate said: “Well, we didn’t play well in the first-half at all, part of the reason for that was because I was in midfield, and then Terry [Venables] moved me to the back and Jamie Redknapp into midfield.
“People talk about Jamie changing that game, but I watched a rerun in the summer and there were two parts…
“Steve McManaman, who was a fantastic player and really underrated, I think people sometimes forget what a good player he was and what he did going to Real Madrid – he was fantastic that day.
“And then there was Ally coming off the bench for Scotland – that really swung things in our favour,” with McCoist replying with a laugh: “Oh he’s killed me!”
And we couldn’t end that conversation without talking about the iconic dentist’s chair, but whose bright idea was it?
The answer, it turns out, was the obvious one…
“That was Gazza! Gazza, Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler… the thing I can never believe is you score a goal like that and the first thing he thought of was to do that celebration!
“That kind of tells you a bit about how calm his thinking is; any of the rest of us would have been doing laps of Wembley after scoring that goal, but he clicked straight away, ‘I’ve got to do this celebration’.
“It was an amazing goal and an amazing moment.
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“Ally played with Paul a lot more than I did, I played with him for England for three or four years.
“You’re talking about a player… sometimes you talk about a good passer, one who can score goals, another who is a good dribbler, but he could do it all.
“There were some fantastic players I played with for England – Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes – but Gascoigne, for me, in terms of talent and ability… he was the best.”
*For those of you dying to know, the answer was 336. Ally was closest with his pretty decent guess on 309, with Southgate a little off the mark with 280.
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