West Ham midfielder Michail Antonio has given his first press conference as an England player after he was called up by Sam Allardyce this week.
England’s Michail Antonio during the press conference
The 26-year-old has received what some deem to be a long-overdue call-up to the England set-up, after he impressed for West Ham last year.
English footballers are oft-criticised for their demeanour when with the national team. 50 years of hurt have now passed since England were crowned World Cup champions, and yet England’s chances of breaking that half-century hoodoo seem no more likely with each passing year.
The criticism usually levelled at the players is that they simply don’t care about the national shirt. Their egos have been too inflated by money and so national pride is a currency that holds no value for them.
The defeat to minnows Iceland at Euro 2016 did nothing to alter this view. In the aftermath of the embarrassing defeat, the British sporting media were quick to bemoan the character of its players, almost as if such a defeat were anticipated.
The Independent and the Guardian led the way. The Mirror wasn’t far behind.
Antonio seemed at ease throughout the press conference
But, in Sam Allardyce, the England team has a manager that isn’t so much a Lamborghini Aventador as a Rover Vitesse – old-fashioned, modest, not obviously exciting, but unashamedly British (or in his case, English, as Wales and Northern Ireland have been keen to show there’s more to these shores than England).
And in players such as Michail Antonio, we have a squad selection to match. Coupled with some of the Leicester lads in Danny Drinkwater and Jamie Vardy – players who weren’t necessarily offered the world at 16 (though Drinkwater was a Manchester United youth player) and who have had to strive to make their way to the top – this England squad possesses more of the character needed.
Antonio has received rave reviews for his first press conference as an England player from members of the football media. Journalists were treated to a young man who, though he had achieved his career goal, knew there was more to come, and who did that rare thing in professional sport – he smiled.
Antonio’s route to the top of English football has not been conventional. Until the age of 18, he had played all of his football with Tooting & Mitcham United, a club whose senior side plies its trade in the Isthmian League.
In 2008, he was signed by Reading and was thrust up six tiers of English football.
After four years representing Reading and various other clubs while out on loan, Antonio moved to Sheffield Wednesday where he helped the club gain promotion to the Championship.
Scoring for West Ham against Aston Villa
He was then sold to Nottingham Forest for £1.5 million in August 2014. The 2014/15 campaign was truly Antonio’s breakthrough. He started every league game for Forest – scoring 16 goals – and was subsequently named the club’s Player of the Season.
As a result of his annus mirabilis, Antonio was signed by West Ham on a four-year contract for the fee of £7 million. He has made 29 league appearances for the Hammers, scoring 10 goals.
Antonio has shown the fight, drive and skill required to make his way up the Football League (the similarities between him and Vardy are there for all to see) and, more than anything, it is these character traits that England needs right now to instil pride in the jersey.
Let’s not pretend that Antonio has come from absolutely nowhere to get this call-up. He has, after all, been playing professionally in the top three tiers of English football for the past eight years, but his career path is still a rare one, and one that seems to have given him a refreshing sense of humility and excitement at representing his country.
Antonio may make his debut on Sunday against Slovakia as England get their World Cup Qualifying campaign up and running
Playing for England is Antonio’s ultimate goal (he turned down the chance to represent Jamaica), and compared to other English players predicted to become world-beaters who have perhaps fallen by the way side, it is his journey from the Isthmian League to the Premier League that should inspire confidence in England’s newest debutant.
Plus, he’s not half bad at football either.
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