“I can’t think of the words to describe it,” says Nigel James, reflecting on the fact that his children were the first brother-and-sister duo to play for England. “When you sit and think from where it all started, the ups and downs of the journey, to get to where they are now. There’s talent that comes with that, but talent only takes you so far.”
When Reece started on Wednesday night against Croatia, he and Lauren also became the first brother-sister duo to represent England at World Cups, with Lauren having played for the Lionesses at the 2023 tournament in Australia and New Zealand.
Nigel oversaw the development of both players from a young age, having turned to coaching in 2002 after a motorbike accident impacted his playing career. His grandmother, who he was very close to, passed away at a similar time, and James became fed up with playing for a coach in non-league who would shout and scream at the players.
“One of the things I always wanted to do was make sure that I never delivered a session or an environment like the one that drove me away from football,” he says. “It was always about enjoyment, and in that enjoyment, you get to know people.”
Since then he has run Nigel James Elite Coaching based on that philosophy, and has spent time collaborating with the Play Their Way campaign during the World Cup to encourage more coaches to adopt a fun-first approach.
“What you get more now is people want to play football because of what football gives you,” he says. “Rather than my time where players played because they loved the game.
“You don’t see kids just playing football in the park. It’s all structured sessions and one-on-ones.”
The hopes of many a parent who believe their son or daughter can become a professional footballer can all too easily turn into far too much pressure for the child themselves. James knows himself how hard it can be when a child is in an academy system to try to let them take their own path through it.
“Both Lauren and Reece had difficult times – Lauren at Arsenal and Reece at Chelsea,” he says. “There was stuff that annoyed me as a parent. I had to keep that away from them. When Reece signed his first professional contract at Chelsea, Neil Bath and Jim Fraser [who ran the academy at the time] told me: “You played a big part in him getting that contract.”
“They said: ‘He went through two and a half years where we were going to throw him out. He wasn’t going to make it. And you didn’t argue, you didn’t instil anything negative in Reece. Because of that he’s developed and pushed on.’
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“I cried all the way driving home. Because I knew if I’d continued to be a problem parent, I would have gone about it the wrong way. But I trusted the process, whether I trusted it or not, I made them believe that I trusted it.”
As Reece and Lauren were developing into the highly technical and creative players that they are now, the Football Association was also sending a former England player around the country to encourage clubs to use small-sided games as a way to better develop children. Gareth Southgate was met by a fair few sceptics as he toured different areas but in south London, the Jameses were already benefiting from that kind of approach.
While Lauren had spent years playing with her older brothers and learning how to protect and hold on to the ball as a result, Nigel also made sure that she was playing at a level where it would feel comfortable for her.
“The challenge with playing up [an age group] is that it can’t be too hard for you,” he explains.
“If it’s too hard for you and you’re not getting a lot of time on the ball, you are just wasting your time. Parents used to tell me the group that Lauren was in was too easy for her. But I wanted her to come and train for two hours and have 100% contact with the ball. She would play against boys, but whether she was on form that day or not, she would be out there and she would turn them inside out. Then the challenges came. We would say: ‘You can’t use your right foot today - you have got to do everything with your left.’ Only once she had mastered that and was really comfortable with it, we would move her to another group.”
Reece had a similar experience, playing with under-9s and under-10s at Fulham as a seven-year-old while Nigel was working there. But he would also then play with his own age group at the weekends.
“He’d be able to stand out and express himself in that game because of the challenges he had had throughout the week.”
Despite Nigel’s emphasis on having fun as a means to develop, he still believes that if a child gets the opportunity to join a professional academy, they should take it. But he has a word of warning for parents who may get overexcited.
“The more contact time you have with elite players, the more you will develop. But you mustn’t go chasing the game. Unfortunately many of the parents with kids who are seven or eight are chasing a dream. If an opportunity comes along, they will just jump ship to whatever they think is the faster route.”
The journeys of Reece and Lauren show that there are plenty of different ways to end up in an England shirt. Reece spent almost his entire youth career at Chelsea, with one loan spell at Wigan before becoming part of the first team and eventually captain. Lauren, meanwhile, went from Chelsea to Arsenal as a youngster, before joining Manchester United as a 16-year-old and later returning to Chelsea. Yet what clearly united them both was a drive to play football because of how much they enjoyed it.
Photograph by Manu Fernández/Pool via Getty Images