ROD THORNLEY was offered a job within the England set-up while on holiday with Gary Neville.
And it was David Beckham that made the call.
Pals with the Old Trafford duo, Thornley used his high-profile contacts to land a masseuse job that would be the envy of anyone in the industry.
Admitting he was “lucky as f*** to get the role, Thornley admitted while appearing on Undr The Cosh: “I was on holiday at the time.
“I was with my girlfriend and Gary Neville was with my sister. We were out in Malta and Becks rang Neville and said, ‘Is Rod with ya?’
“And he went, ‘Put him on the phone,’ and this was the summer of 2001.
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“He said, ‘There’s a chance for the England masseur [job] – would you fancy it?’ And I said, ‘Dead right, yeah! Let’s do it.'”
As the process gathered momentum, Thornley’s northern roots helped him pip other potential candidates.
He added: “[Beckham] said, ‘Right, okay. I’ll have a word with Sven, see what he says.
“Beckham’s captain at the time.
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“And at the time, there was Gary Lewin, who was the Arsenal physio, there was two Arsenal doctors, a masseur from Swindon and a physio from Sheffield.
“So they had no-one really that northern. So they said it would be diplomatically right to get me in there as well.
“So that’s how I got in there.”
Having worked at United, one might expect that Thornley was accustomed to glamorous conditions.
But the “red carpet treatment” with the Three Lions was on another level – with staff being “treated the same as players”.
Over 14 years in the role he worked with Sven-Goran Eriksson, Steve McClaren, Fabio Capello and Roy Hodgson.
He worked with the team at numerous World Cups and European Championships, during England’s infamous “Golden Generation” – before departing under Hodgson.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
