Gareth Southgate tells a great story about why he doesn’t bother with pre-match superstitions

Gareth Southgate is not one to engage in pre-match superstitions.

Several players and managers have a strange belief that they must go through the exact same routine prior to every game in order to guarantee success but Southgate no longer falls into that category. David James would wait at the urinals until they were empty and then spit on the wall, Johan Cruyff would slap Ajax goalkeeper Gert Bals in the stomach and Gary Lineker would limit his shots at goal during warm-ups because he didn't want to waste his goals before kick-off. Southgate used to have a bizarre superstition involving his socks when he was manager of Middlesbrough but he quickly moved on after being relieved of his duties in 2009. "I’ll tell you a story about me and superstitions," Southgate said ahead of England's World Cup semi-final with Croatia. "When I was managing at Middlesbrough, we had a game at Reading and I was under a bit of pressure. When I went to get changed at the hotel, I’d forgotten my socks. So, I went to the kit-man and I borrowed a pair of black goalkeeper socks. Anyway, we won and the staff made this big thing about my lucky socks, saying I had to wear them next game. "So, we were at home and I went to get changed and I thought, ‘Hmmm, shall I wear those socks?’. We still needed the win but I thought, ‘No, it’s ridiculous’. So, we lost the game and then on the Tuesday we were playing again, so I thought, ‘Well, I’d better put the socks on’. So, I did and we won 2-0. And then I went upstairs and got sacked! "So, really, from that moment, superstitions have rather gone out the window."