Kyle Walker 'wouldn't leave house' if England failed to qualify for tournament

16 October 2023 , 21:30

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Kyle Walker wants to win a tournament with England (Image: Getty Images)

Kyle Walker admits he would have been afraid to 'leave his house' if England failed to qualify for a major tournament.

‌It was only back in Euro 2008 when England did not make it and there were so many disappointments at World Cups before Gareth Southgate took charge. But now Walker, 33, says the mood in the camp has never been better and there is a real sense of expectation within the squad that they can win a major tournament.

‌England only need a draw to clinch their place at next summer's Euros and Walker actually believes a few people need to remember just how far they have come back. Walker said: "Have they become used to us just qualifying? Now if we didn’t qualify, God knows.

"I wouldn’t leave my house, I’d just have to stay indoors. Cos we are qualifying and it’s still difficult to leave your house. If we didn’t qualify I don’t know what we would do. I don’t see the balance of it. We are doing well, any manager in the world would love to manage this team and instead of actually appreciate it we are trying to, I feel, pick the negatives and say ‘they didn’t do this right’ or ‘they didn’t do that right’.

"But what has England achieved? We have achieved a lot but we have not won any silverware. We have come on well from where we were before. Manchester City spent a lot of money, brought in arguably the best manager in the world to win the Champions League and until we won the Champions League, they could always question that. What can they question now? They will find something else. Of course they will."

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Walker made his England debut 12 years ago, Gareth Southgate has had to talk him out of retirement twice - after Euro 2020 and last year’s World Cup - but now he says he is here for as long as his country wants him.

Part of that is the atmosphere within the camp which he says was awful when he first reported up as it was full of cliques with senior players who would not talk to the new call-ups. Now Walker - who will win his 79th cap against Italy at Wembley - is proud to be one of the senior players who the younger lads look up to. And he is also in the best form of his life.

Walker helped England each the final of Euro 2020 (Getty Images)

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Walker said: "About retirement, I did speak with the manager and he wanted me to be a part of this team and more importantly I wanted to be a part of it. Because it’s a special group of lads. I’ve been here when it was tough to come to England.

"Obviously to represent your country is always going to be an honour but those days when you’re in the hotels and no-one talks to you, it was hard. I remember first getting down to the training ground and Ashley Cole was my hero and I was looking at him.

"Glen Johnson, Rio, John Terry, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard. Wayne Rooney. You are looking at all of these players and you were a 19-year-old boy coming into a team. It was hard. Football and life has changed completely, now. It was a long time ago.

"Football has changed and the world has changed. I would like to stress any of the younger players coming through and I say, 'If you ever need me, give me a shout'. Now, even though we have fallen short, it’s been enjoyable and hopefully we can go on tomorrow night and get the point at least that we need and hopefully the win and hopefully we can go that one step further next time."

John Cross