Tuesday night’s England vs Finland match at Wembley will feature Nick Loftus sitting in the Royal Box.
One of the many great points of his career playing school football in Wolverhampton and the West Midlands will also stray from his memory when he watches England’s interim head coach Lee Carsley come out to take his spot in the dugout for his first home game as managing coach. Early in 1990, Loftus, now 66, was in charge of the West Midlands Under-16 schools squad during a semi-final matchup against South Glamorgan. Loftus would go on to serve as Wolves Academy’s Education & Welfare Officer for 16 years.
The game’s lone goal was scored by the team’s diligent midfield player, a certain Lee Carsley from Birmingham, and they won 1-0.
The final, against Avon at Ashton Gate, ended in defeat. And while the teamsheet from the day shows many of the opposition team ultimately graduating through from schools’ football to the professional ranks, Carsley was one of the few from the Midlands’ team to make the grade.
He went on to excel, particularly with Derby County and Everton and also, after qualifying via his Cork-born grandmother, winning 40 caps for the Republic of Ireland against whom his new England opportunity kicks off in Dublin on Saturday evening.
“Lee was always a very hardworking player with a great mentality and is the standout to emerge from that team,” says Loftus, whose nickname of ‘Lofty’ has followed him throughout his career.
“I really enjoyed managing him.
“I think he played every county game that season, and of that group, was the one who had most success, both at club level and internationally.
It’s also nice that when I used to bump into him from time to time when I was at Wolves, he would remember back to those days and his experiences of playing for the county.
“I last saw him when he was under-21 manager at Manchester City, and it’s great to see how well he has done in his coaching career to progress through to England and now the senior team.”
Carsley isn’t the only connection who will be familiar to Loftus when he heads to Wembley on Tuesday night.
Joleon Lescott, now an assistant to Carsley within the England set-up, had progressed through to the senior Wolves side by the time Loftus joined the Academy in 2004, but Morgan Gibbs-White, hoping to make his Three Lions debut over the coming days, was very much coming through the ranks.
Indeed, Loftus was very much involved in helping Gibbs-White move his education to Thomas Telford School from the school in Stafford where he had spent his formative years.
So, plenty to ponder as he takes his seat at Wembley, for the first time – and with understandable pride – since being appointed as Chairman of the English Schools’ Football Association.
Reaching such a key and influential role within the game is just rewards for a proud Wulfrunian whose entire career has been steeped in a healthy combination of football and education.
Loftus, inspired by his own experiences of enjoying school football tours as a player, became a PE teacher at Valley Park, Willenhall Comprehensive and Moreton Schools, alongside being an assistant and manager for various squads for Wolverhampton and West Midlands Schools.
As a supporter, his Wolves journey began a year after England’s World Cup triumph of 1966, loving watching the likes of Derek Dougan, Kenny Hibbitt and Dave Wagstaffe, whilst he also trod the boards as a player himself, initially as a goalkeeper but later as a wide midfielder.
Loftus was originally forced to play rounders when his junior school, Holy Trinity C of E in Heath Town, didn’t run any football teams – although they do now, but his secondary school, Ward’s Bridge – certainly did.
They also had a proud tradition of delivering an excellent sports’ day, which featured an evening event for parents after the activities, and the regular return of special guests and alumni.
Including the one year, none other than later Olympic javelin champion Tessa Sanderson. Whom Loftus confidently believed he could take on!
He says, “I knew Tessa fairly well; she was a couple of years above me at school.” When Tessa returned to the school as a special visitor on sports day, I was the best boy javelin thrower in the school and in my fifth year, as it was then called. “I recall thinking, ‘I know she’s good, but she won’t defeat me.'”
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