Could Coventry City win England the World Cup?

Sports Editor, Tomas Browne looks at where the roots of the England Squad's talent can be found.

It’s only bloody coming home again!

After the ladies' success in the summer, it is now the gents who have a chance to write their names in the history books. 

Whether you agree with the World Cup being held in Qatar or not, from 20th November to 18th December, all eyes will be on the Middle East and as usual England go into the tournament as one of the favourites.

Gareth Southgate announced the squad he was taking to Qatar and there were few surprises. Southgate has his favourites and despite his claims when he took over the job that he would pick players on current form over ‘names’, he has backtracked on that pretty quickly. 

For years, fans wanted Jack Grealish to be called up to the England squad, Southgate refused because he hadn’t proven it at the top level. He finally breaks into the squad and he can’t get a game for love nor money, even though he was captaining his boyhood club Aston Villa in the Premier League and consistently being their best performer. It became somewhat of a joke between fans that Jack just had too much character to play the boring football that has begun to epitomise Southgate’s reign.

Of course, now Grealish has left Villa for Man City, you can’t keep him out of the England team, even if he might not be playing as regularly or performing as consistently. But it’s a Brummie at the World Cup! 

Jude Bellingham, who made the wise career choice to leave Birmingham City at the first opportunity, has also been called up. Arguably the best teenage player on the planet right now, it will be interesting to see if he will be starting games, like many feel he should. At Dortmund he has captained the club in Champions League games and has become one of Europe’s hottest prospects. A far cry from his days at St. Andrews.

One club however that you probably wouldn’t suspect would be churning out England stars is Coventry City. 

Much like with Grealish, James Maddison has been playing some brilliant football for Leicester this season. In fact for the last few seasons he has been outperforming his peers. Again, like Grealish, he wasn’t playing for a fashionable club so seemed to get overlooked. Some said his off-field antics had led to his continued omission. 

The Coventry City graduate finally got his first call up since 2019 and will be part of the England squad travelling to Qatar. He will be joined on the plane by former Sky Blues team mate Callum Wilson, who’s form for a resurgent Newcastle has earned him his first call up since 2019. 

It has been a dreadful few years/decades for Coventry City fans. But they are storming up the league after a rough start and they have contributed more academy graduates to the England squad than Manchester United. What a time to be a Cov fan!

Written by Tomas Browne