Times interviews Rodwell:
Jack Rodwell unfazed by tide of expectation on his young shoulders | Everton - Times Online
Jack Rodwell unfazed by tide of expectation on his young shoulders | Everton - Times Online
When several of his friends flew the nest in September, going away to university, Jack Rodwell stayed at home with his parents.
The messages would land on a regular basis, telling him of the wild times they were enjoying, but, as he takes his place at the heart of the Everton midfield at Stamford Bridge this afternoon, the teenager regarded as the future face of the England team would not have it any other way.
To Rodwell, the tales from freshers’ week must have sounded as distant as the idea of locking horns with Frank Lampard and Michael Ballack would sound to any ordinary teenager.
At the age of 18, he is living the dream — a regular in the Everton and England Under-21 teams, predicted to graduate to full international honours sooner rather than later and now, as the Boy’s Own story continues, attracting covetous gazes from Manchester United, Chelsea and, if the latest reports are to be believed, Real Madrid.
In a recent survey, 14 of the 20 Barclays Premier League managers identified Rodwell as the young player most likely to take English football by storm.
For all the excitement that surrounds Jack Wilshere, Fabian Delph and others, it is the Everton youngster, with 49 senior appearances to his name already, whose future appears most secure. Next year’s World Cup finals will almost certainly come too soon for him, but full England recognition cannot be far away.
Born in March 1991 — nine days after Ryan Giggs made his professional debut for United against Everton at Old Trafford — Rodwell is a young man who has been blessed. We already knew he was blessed with the ability to play with both feet, the instinct to switch midfield and defence and the composure to feel at home on any stage. What becomes clear, as he opens up to a national newspaper for the first time, is that he is also blessed with the level-headedness to take stardom in his stride and the support of a strong family unit in Birkdale, the North West coastal village more readily associated with golf than football.
And all this before we come to the good looks and good manners that lead you to wonder whether there is anything else he would like to declare, such as a sideline in award-winning poetry.
Rodwell, though, has but one thing to declare — his commitment to Everton. There is an understandable degree of discomfort at Goodison Park with some of the attention their latest protégé has been attracting, given how things turned out with Wayne Rooney, but Rodwell refuses even to entertain the idea of leaving Merseyside, fully appreciative, it seems, of the stage David Moyes has given him on which to launch his career.
“I don’t read anything into the speculation,” he says. “All I’m focusing on is the next game. I’ve got to be ready to start the next game and be in the manager’s thoughts. Obviously anyone would be flattered by interest from other clubs, but I really am happy playing for Everton. I enjoy it there. It’s where I’ve always been and I love it.
“The gaffer [Moyes] has been brilliant for me. He has put his trust in me, playing me at such a young age, and he has always tried to look after me. I’ve got a lot to thank him for.”
The question that immediately comes to mind is whether he has ever felt Moyes’s wrath, whether for a lapse in concentration on the pitch or indeed off it. “No, I don’t think I have,” he says. “Maybe if he thought he had to, he would have done, but I’ve not had that much going on off the pitch that he would have to speak about it, really.”
His father, Malcolm, beams with pride alongside him, as does his representative, Mick McGuire, of the James Grant Group, which, having previously been synonymous with the entertainment world and celebrities such as Ant and Dec, appears to have struck gold early on its recent entry into sports management.
“If I’m level-headed, it’s probably the way I’ve been brought up,” Rodwell says. “I know a lot of players aren’t that way, but that’s not a negative thing. It’s just the way different people are brought up. I’ve been brought up in a family where I’ve always kept a clear mind and level head.
“You hear that phrase thrown around about footballers being ‘big time’. But the lads at Everton are great in terms of looking after you. You’ve got people like Phil Neville, Tim Howard, Tim Cahill — top professionals, who are great with the youngsters.”
Rodwell joined Everton’s centre of excellence at the age of 7 and by the time he reached his teens, was already being talked about in football circles as a boy destined for great things. At that stage, though, the buzz around Goodison Park was about another boy, six years his senior.
“I was in the same team as John Rooney, who is Wayne’s brother and is at Macclesfield now,” he says. “John used to come to training and the coaches would be saying to him, ‘Your Wayne is brilliant.’ I hadn’t seen him play until once at a Youth Cup game and I remember thinking, ‘Yeah, he looks really good, actually.’ He was the one everyone was raving about.”
Spool forward a few years and Rodwell was the one that everyone was raving about. “At first it was a bit surreal playing in the Premier League at 16, coming up against world-class players, because it had always been my dream,” he says.
“But quickly it becomes second nature to you. It has happened with me a lot. I played in the under-18s when I was 14, then the reserves at 15 and then the first team. At first it’s daunting, but you get used to it.”
Rodwell identifies the FA Cup fourth-round replay against Liverpool in February, which Everton won 1-0 in extra time, as a breakthrough moment. “That’s when I thought, ‘This is the biggest stage and I feel like I can do it,’ ” he says. “That was against big players and it was a massive occasion, the derby, and I came on and felt in control. That was probably the turning point.”
It was also the night that convinced him he could be a top-class central midfield player. “To be honest, I had always thought of central defence as my position because I had always played there as a youngster, probably because I’m tall,” he says. “But last season and this season I’ve played in midfield and I’ve really enjoyed it. Even though it’s possible I’ll move back into defence at some point, right now I definitely see myself as a midfielder.
“When I was growing up, I always liked Rio Ferdinand, who played in both positions when he was younger. Funnily enough, another one I liked was [Marcel] Desailly, so when you look at it like that, the players I’ve admired could play both positions.
“Playing in midfield, I’ve played against plenty of good players and some of the stuff they do is brilliant. But I’m different to someone like Frank Lampard. If he does something, I’ll do something else. There are different ways of playing. He’s 31 and he’s very experienced. I’m still 18 and I’m inexperienced. All I can do is hopefully get more games and hope that, with experience, success will come.”
Success such as being called into the England squad? “That would be great if it happens,” Rodwell says. “Obviously I would love to play for the England senior team. That’s another dream and it’s the next step up now I’m playing regularly for the under-21s, but all I can focus on is playing regularly for Everton, playing well and, if that comes, everything else will hopefully come with it. I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself to get a call-up. I just need to concentrate on my football.
“I try to live a normal life. I’ve got friends and people I can relax with. One of my mates is at university at Leicester and he’s always telling me how much he’s loving it. Student life is what it is. I can have fun to a point, but there’s a certain line I can’t cross. I have to know the limit.”
His father and McGuire nod their heads alongside him. They need not worry. This is one student for whom graduation to full England honours is only a matter of time.
