“STUART PEARCE PROBABLY WOULDN’T ADMIT THIS, BUT HE WOULD GIVE 100 PER CENT FOR FRANCE”

Both of your parents had strong sporting backgrounds – were you always expected to follow in their footsteps?

My dad was a heavyweight boxer for Sandhurst and played rugby as well. My sister swam and played tennis for Jamaica, so it was a sporting family. But I never thought of it as a profession until I came over to England. Even then, my dad was here on a diplomatic posting, so we were only ever going to be here for four years. I first came when I was 13. At 17, when I was preparing to go home to Jamaica or possibly on a scholarship to the USA, Watford