The candidate to be next England manager as grateful to be an adopted Yorkshireman as Gareth Southgate was

Potter was in no mood to discuss the vacant England manager’s job when he returned to Leeds Beckett University to receive an honorary degree this week, but more than happy to speak of the part the White Rose county played in putting him in a position to be considered.

Gareth Southgate resigned as manager after eight years and 102 games following England's defeat to Spain in the final of Euro 2024.

The former centre-back is from Watford, but moved to North Yorkshire in 2001 when he joined Middlesbrough as a player, then manager. It was his only coaching role before joining the England set-up as head of elite development, under-21 coach, then first-team manager.

He spoke of the influence living in Yorkshire has on him.

As a highly-respected English coach, Potter has been earmarked as one of the early favourites for the post, officially advertised on Friday, and his chances improved when Eddie Howe declared his "unwavering" commitment to Newcastle United.

He might not be from Yorkshire like Don Revie, Kevin Keegan, Steve McClaren or former caretaker England manager Howard Wilkinson, but its influence on Solihull-born Potter's coaching career is arguably greater than Southgate's.

"My wife's from York so I know the area really well," said Potter on his return to his alma mater to receive an honorary doctorate.

"(Leeds) is a vibrant city with a big student population and a fantastic thriving city, a proud city. I really loved my time here. I loved Yorkshire, it's become my second home."

York City were the club the former full-back played most for, making over 100 appearances between 2000 and 2003.

After finishing his playing career in 2005, Potter took the then-frowned-upon academic route into coaching, studying for an Open University degree in social sciences.

He worked as the University of Hull’s football development manager, joining the coaching staff of England Universities and even serving as Ghana's technical director at the 2007 Women's World Cup. Next he joined Leeds Metropolitan (now Beckett) University, combining his development job with an MSc in leadership.

In 2008, he also became manager of Leeds Carnegie, talking the Northern Counties East League Division One side.

From there he moved to Sweden, taking Ostersunds from the fourth tier into the Europa League, followed by jobs with Swansea City, Brighton and Hove Albion and most recently Chelsea, who sacked him in April 2023 after just 31 games.

His time studying in Leeds was particularly important to him.

"It was the start of my career, an opportunity to learn, an opportunity to be in this fantastic institution, mix with lots of different people with different backgrounds," he reflected. "I had a football experience and to be exposed to different faculties, different sports, it was a really important stage of my learning and my development.

"It gave me the foundation, I think, to move forward in my career so I'll always be really, really grateful.

"I've been away in Sweden for seven years, then down south, so I hadn't been back to campus for 15 years and it's amazing how things change but things trigger you to remember things – little walks, all the time studying, working with the players, making mistakes and coming back to your office to try and work out what went wrong.

"I'm so grateful."