Made in Sheffield, England defence forged in Steel City

THE IMPRINT of Sheffield steel in England’s back-line on Tuesday night brought particular satisfaction to former Bramall Lane academy boss Ron Reid.

The widely-respected coach, who left Sheffield United in 2010, was instrumental in the early development of Phil Jagielka and Kyle Walker, who lined up in the 0-0 stalemate in Kiev where defensive resolve was the major positive on a difficult night.

Dronfield-born Gary Cahill was the third member of Roy Hodgson’s defence with Blades links, with Reid also aware of the centre-half’s prowess from a young age, despite the player being destined to start his route to the top at Aston Villa – before eventually finding a way to S2 in a loan move from Villa in September 2007.

The Blades banked almost £20m in fees from selling a number of Reid’s graduates, including Michael Tonge, Kyle Naughton, Jagielka and Walker and while he is entitled to be proud of that, the sight of the latter two appearing for England has warmed his heart just as much.

Not that it has surprised Reid, although he and his fellow Academy coaches at Shirecliffe deserve a hearty pat on the back, given that Jagielka and Walker played in midfield and up front respectively in their formative years before successfully switching to the back.

Reid said: “To see them both play for England is fantastic. But to be honest, I am not surprised.

“Jags was always a good player. He just needed to settle in the centre-half position because in his early days, he played in midfield. But we always felt his best position was centre-half and when he did go back there, the rest is history.

“I remember towards the end of Kyle’s apprenticeship when he got to 17 or 18 that he had a terrific growth spurt and really blossomed. All the work we did just came to fruition. I kept on at Kevin Blackwell to get him into the first-team and he should have been in much earlier than what he was.

“I am just so proud of our (academy) record at Sheffield. I really don’t think the directors of the football club at the time knew how good things were.”

Forty-two of Reid’s graduates went on to make appearances in the Football League or Premier League with the conveyor belt of talent also including the likes of Matthew Lowton and Stephen Quinn, at top-flight Aston Villa and Hull City respectively, Billy Sharp and current Blades players George Long and Harry Maguire.

One player to evade Reid’s grasp as a youngster was Cahill, with the club having to wait until the 2007-08 season to see him in Blades’ colours.

Reid added: “Gary was from Dronfield and they had a scout there from Villa who had him from quite an early age and we didn’t get a sniff of him, although we knew of him.

“Obviously, if we could have signed him, we would have done, but he was tied up with Villa and that was game, set and match. In those days, transfer fees were massive involving Premier League sides.

“But he came in on loan when Bryan Robson was manager and did very, very well. I think Sheffield United wanted to sign, but couldn’t afford the money then in terms of how much it was going to cost.”

England’s attacking efforts may have been far from illuminating in Ukraine, but resolute pairing Cahill and Jagielka were afforded a share of the limelight after lining up for the fifth successive England game together in the heart of the back four – you have to go back to the World Cup of 2006 for the last time that happened when John Terry and Rio Ferdinand were in tandem.

And Jagielka believes that the duo’s partnership is coming along nicely.

The Everton skipper, who ironically joined the Blades after leaving Goodison Park as a youngster before later making the return journey, said: “The partnership is getting better, definitely.

“It’s been quite a few times that Gaz and I have played together, so hopefully if we can stay fit and in-form, we can keep on putting that England jersey on and be as good together as possible.”