INTERVIEW | Anthony Gordon reacts to his first England call-up

We sit down with Anthony Gordon after he received his first call up for Gareth Southgate’s England side.

His fine form this season has earned him a place in the squad for the upcoming friendlies against Brazil and Belgium at Wembley.

For more from Newcastle United:

Twitter 👉 https://twitter.com/NUFC
Facebook 👉 https://www.facebook.com/newcastleunited
Instagram 👉 https://www.instagram.com/nufc/?hl=en
TikTok 👉 https://www.tiktok.com/@nufc?
Website 👉 https://www.nufc.co.uk/

Anthony congratulations you’ve just been called up to the England squad for the first time how does that feel words can’t really describe to be honest um relieved obviously you know you sort of have a little chance maybe but just yeah finding out for that first time such a relief um it’s what I’ve

Been working my my whole life for really so to get to that point just incredible how do you find out do you get a little inkin before how does it come about no no I didn’t to be honest I was thinking maybe would I and that was just enticing

Me even more and it was building the building the suspense but I found out just about an hour before training um through a text message so I just told a few of the lads and then yeah I was just over the moon where’s that text message

Come from is it from the fa or from a agent or yeah from the fa from uh Ruth the the players Le a on and I just remember reading on my phone I was just all the feeling of about for the past two days where I’ve been so nervous just

Draining out to me body and yeah it was just over the mo and those nerves must have been added to obviously on Monday night when G southgate’s in the crowd and you get an injury I mean tell us what the last few days have been like physically mentally emotionally yeah

Really up and down a bit of a weird couple of days um was obviously looking forward to that game so much and it was a big opportunity for me um you know Monday Night Football two teams who were sort of fighting each other at the minute um

It’s a big occasion and I knew that and then obviously in the game I picked up slight injury which made me panic a lot of the time with me knee you don’t mess about with your knees in football um so when I had them feelings I was just

Praying that it was not serious and thankfully for me it wasn’t yeah it looked really bad but then after the game you you just walked normally no crutches or anything like that at that point were you were you sort of feeling a little bit more comfortable with it yeah so the the

The day after the game I come into training and it didn’t feel bad at all really it hadn’t swelled up and usually with the knee if it swells you know it could be a bad problem um and it didn’t swell so I was really confident in that

And yeah I know my own body so I know I sort of knew at that moment that I was fine but just in the game when you’re getting certain shooting pains and stuff it can uh can really upset you and like I said it made me panic a lot you say

You’ve been work working towards this throughout your whole career what does it mean I I remember speaking to you back in September and you sort of said it’s something that you’ve dreamed of since you were a baby yeah what does it actually mean to you now to be sort of

So close now to pulling on those three lines for the first time at senior level it’s actually like I said before actually is hard to describe because we do as footballers chase this dream from the age of four or five years of age and like every day of your life is sort

Of heading to achieve this this dream um and the closer and closer you get to it you just wanted that that bit more and thankfully you know I’ve managed to get it and it’s just a massive massive achievement for me I’m I’m so happy I couldn’t be any happier at the minute

With things are going but ultimately I don’t just want to be called up for this Camp I want to be I want to stay in in the England squads and that’s the thing it’s obviously right on the Eve really of a major tournament as well does it

Feel like a really good time to be getting that first call up yeah definitely right right before the tournament um but like I said I just I’ve never dreamed of being someone who just played for England and and that was it that’s not that’s not my aspirations

My aspirations are to have an impact on the England squad and hopefully be part of a team that wins wins a tournament because the team we’ve got the staff we’ve got the minute is like seconds and on so I don’t see why we can’t do that

Have someone had said to you 12 months ago that you’d be sat here talking about a first call up for England when you’d sort of had a fairly slow start to life at newcast what would you have said then um it would have been probably a little

Bit of disbelief but also like I’ve said on numerous occasions I never doubt myself I always back myself no matter what what’s going on in my life um I always knew I get to this point it was just a matter of when because I know

Hard to work day in day out um I believe I can overcome and and that’s ping me way and even though I started slowly you know I had a dream I had belief in myself that I would get at this point so yeah I would have I would have told you that you’re

Right and when you made that move from Everton to Newcastle you you wanted to make the next step really I guess to what extent do you feel like you’ve done that through your hard work through everything that’s happened well yeah that was the point of the move I felt

Like I was ready to take the next step this club was perfect for me um and it’s just turned out better than I probably ever dreamed it could uh the connection with the fans the club The Players the manager it’s just gone so much better

Than I think any of us ever thought it would um but I think when you talk about taking the next step I’ve come Leaps and Bounds to where I was when I when I first joined as a person most importantly um but obviously the stuff

People care about is as a player so I think that’s that’s pretty obvious to see yeah the stats are there for all to see but what else have you added to your game I think everything I’m better at everything I was when I came um be more

Trustworthy with with the ball um me decision making me defensive output and me running some of the stats this year been like so high I probably could have never achieved that if I wasn’t playing for this manager so he’s given me the opportunity to go and really Excel and

Push all the attributes I’ve got to to the very limit I still got a long way to go but he’s allowed me to to shine in my own skin and again after that Chelsea game last day of last season you sort of said it yourself didn’t you you said I’m

Going to go away I’m going to come back better than ever and you did that with with England’s under 21s first of all but then did did that feel like a real sort of pivotal point for you in terms of winning player with the tournament winning that tournament as well yeah of

Course I think that the thing people don’t see is the pivotal moment is probably a couple of weeks before that when I’m having them thoughts and I’ve got them goals and I’m I’m heading in that direction um because if I don’t have that mindset of I’m going to win

Play the tournament then I would never do it so it’s that belief in myself that’s the pivotal part in that that Journey um and then obviously going and doing it is another thing but the fact that I did just set me up perfectly for the season and you know I didn’t have

Many days off so I come back really fit I was just ready yeah it’s easy to talk isn’t it but to actually put it into practice and as you say there it just felt like you you gave yourself about three four days off and then just came came straight back yeah definitely it’s

Always something I do I like to talk things out because I feel like it puts more pressure on me to actually achieve it which which I like um but yeah the day off again that was planned I knew I was never going to have a holiday I

Spoke to a few people at the club about it and I just felt uh I was on a run so my confidence is high why why stop and go and sort of enjoy when the biggest challenge was back at the club um and yeah come back and and face the

Challenge head on just looking ahead to those England games the first one of course Brazil potentially against Bruno gimes at Wembley it’s not a bad first one to be getting your head around is it no I honestly think uh if I could pick any game to play in for England I mean

It’s no guarantee I will play but if I could pick any game to play it would be England versus Brazil I think there’s no better game of football um Brazil’s national team is obviously so famous and you know playing for England just against anyone would would mean the well

To me but playing against a top team like that makes it even a bit more special and against Bruno and what what will that be like to to sort of come up against him because obviously play against him in training you play with him what could it be like

To to come up against him hopefully I win um but hopefully not directly against him because I probably won’t be able to get near him um he’s top player and I know he loves playing for his national team just as I will so it’ just

Be a great day be a good day for everyone at Newcastle as well you know you got two players at a very high level playing in a very high level game but yeah I’m really pleaded for him as well before all that of course there’s an FA Cup quarterfinal against Manchester City

Just a small matter of that I guess the fact that you’ve sort of recovered so well from this this injury you’ll be doing everything you can to be involved in that yeah I’ve always said if I’m not injured I won’t miss games because if I can play with something I would play um

Like I said I was really fortunate that there was not much up with me kn really it was just a bit of pain um and I was really lucky so you know I can’t then just sort of Miss game because of a Sly that that’s not it’s not what I’m about

If I can play I will play play so from now to the game I’ll do everything I can to to be in opposition and how big a game does that feel like in the context of the season now that’s massive I don’t think um we should try away from it

Because we got the chance to go to FA Cup semi-final at Wembley um playing at wimbley for this club with this set of fans like one one experience last year was I couldn’t play but I was there at the stadium so I want to relive that and

I want to win this time so it’s a oneoff game of football against the best team in the world there’s no better occasion for us to to go and win obviously you could make your England debut at Wembley could be back there again and for you is

Is that D now is to to make Wembley a a regular occurrence for you I think if you’re playing uh regularly at Wembley you’re not doing too much wrong uh all the big games at Wembley like the national teams at Wembley I’ve never played there so far so I want to rck as

Many games up at Wembley as possible