EXCLUSIVE
Gareth Southgate will manage his 92nd England game this weekend, but he could have followed a totally different path if he'd listened to his old teacher.
The Three Lions take on Brazil in a friendly at Wembley on Saturday, before facing Belgium on Tuesday night, with both games live on talkSPORT.
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Each stadium will be packed with England fans ready to wave their side off to this summer's tournament.
Coincidentally - this month's two friendlies fall on EFL Youth Development week.
So, what better time for the man who taught Southgate at school and also developed two England stars to be in the crowd to watch them all?
Back in the 1980s, Charlton's Academy Director Steve Avory taught a 15-year-old Southgate - who was a scholar at Crystal Palace at the time - at the Hazelwick school in Three Bridges, near Crawley.
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Speaking to talkSPORT.com, he was asked if he ever could have predicted the youngster he taught at school would go on to manage his country.
To which he said: "What you did see in Gareth, even as a schoolboy, is what a good leader he was, because he was captain of probably every sports team we had at school.
"Whether it be, I mean, football and athletics were his two leaders. But he would play other sports, basketball, cricket as well.
"But rugby, he was a decent rugby player as well. An all-round sports lad as a schoolboy. But obviously, the football became the priority.
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“He was a good 400-metre runner. He would do a number of events for the school athletics team, but his dad was an athletics coach for a number of years.
"That had an influence in terms of what Gareth would do throughout the summer season. I wanted him also to play some cricket, but athletics was his priority."
Gareth Southgate reveals Ben White asked to be left out of England squad and admits he doesn’t know why
It turns out Southgate wasn't too keen on swapping a football for a cricket bat, though.
"No, I could see that athletics was his priority," Avory said. "And athletics, it was a very, it was a big sport at the school.
"I mean, my summer sport was more sort of cricket, and I obviously tried to develop a cricket culture at the school as well, but athletics was very strong at Hazelwick."
Avory has plenty more claims to fame other than teaching England's manager, bringing through many big-name stars through the Addicks' academy.
Despite Charlton languishing in the third tier for most of the last decade, the south London side have continued to churn out top level talent from their academy at Sparrows Lane.
That includes current England and Premier League stars Joe Gomez and Ezri Konsa.
When asked about the Liverpool and Aston Villa stars, who left Charlton in 2015 and 2018 respectively, Avory said: "They do stay in touch.
"It was only last season where we asked Ezri if he would send a message to some of our younger foundation-phase players for a parents' evening at the beginning of last season.
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“So there's an example of how willing he is to still get involved.
"I sent him a message on his call-up for the last England camp, of course, he didn't play in the end, but you get the response from him.
"So there's an example of how these players are always quick to respond and want to help out.
“Joe, yeah, I mean, I have a number of messages with Joe throughout the season and I suppose I've got more of a direct link to Joe because I've always kept in touch with his dad, and his dad has kept in touch with me and the academy.
"It was only at the beginning of this season where I got Augustas Gomez, Joe's dad, to get involved in a Q&A, which I did with him and another parent, Deji Elerewe (now at Bromley), to talk to the parents.
"Because it was good for them to hear, the parents' view of what their lives went through during schoolboy years."
Now, Avory is hoping he can watch Southgate, Gomez and Konsa on Tuesday for the Three Lions clash against Belgium at home of football.
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He said: "I'm not able to go to the Brazil game, but I'll be there on Tuesday.
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"I'm going to hang around afterwards, and hopefully meet up with them.”
England vs Brazil is live on talkSPORT from 7pm