{"id":286745,"date":"2023-09-07T22:34:15","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T22:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/?p=286745"},"modified":"2023-09-07T22:34:15","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T22:34:15","slug":"maverick-maddison-insists-im-a-cheeky-boy-just-like-gazza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsloveme.com\/soccer\/maverick-maddison-insists-im-a-cheeky-boy-just-like-gazza\/","title":{"rendered":"Maverick Maddison insists: &apos;I&apos;m a cheeky boy, just like Gazza&apos;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Maverick James Maddison loves being cast as pantomime villain as Tottenham and England midfielder insists: &#8216;I&#8217;m a cheeky boy, just like Gazza!&#8217;<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>James Maddison is now cementing his position in the England squad<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Attacking midfielder in line to start against Ukraine in Euro 2024 qualifier<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>He shares similarities with former Tottenham and England star Paul Gascoigne\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>James Maddison bounces into this interview at England\u2019s HQ with a smile that illuminates the room.<\/p>\n<p>A smiling Tottenham attacking midfielder? Hmm, sounds familiar. \u2018I don\u2019t remember Gazza (Paul Gascoigne) but my dad used to put football videos together \u2014 he is a graphic designer and is good,\u2019 says Maddison.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018He used to put montages together and Gazza features on a lot of them, so I remember a lot of his clips.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Before you become a professional, you are a fan of the game and I loved players who had personality, I loved watching players who had a little bit of cheekiness about them.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Gazza was a perfect example. I remember a clip where the cameras are going down the players during the national anthem and it gets to him and he sticks his tongue out, starts messing around with the camera and going all bog-eyed. I just love that.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/07\/21\/75184889-12493593-Maddison_shares_a_joke_with_England_captain_Harry_Kane_during_a_-a-10_1694119861789.jpg\" height=\"480\" width=\"306\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/07\/21\/75187159-12493593-image-m-9_1694119857795.jpg\" height=\"480\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>Maddison (left) says he admires players with personality and welcomes comparisons with Paul Gascoigne (right), who had a similar cheekiness about him<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/07\/21\/75184887-12493593-Midfielder_James_Maddison_is_now_cementing_his_position_in_the_E-a-2_1694119608446.jpg\" height=\"573\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Midfielder Maddison is now cementing his position in the England squad<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I like the theatre element of almost being the villain. That keeps me at my best. That\u2019s how I enjoyed watching football and that\u2019s how I enjoy playing it.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Maddison certainly has a Gazza way about him. He\u2019s an entertainer, someone who enjoys playing to crowd \u2014 just like the 56-year-old Geordie.<\/p>\n<p>The good-natured interaction with Bournemouth supporters, intent on barracking him as he took a corner in last month\u2019s 2-0 win for Spurs, summed up Maddison\u2019s sense of humour.<\/p>\n<p>Cherries fans went from booing to laughing in seconds; you can\u2019t help but find that endearing.<\/p>\n<p>Maddison said: \u2018I like interacting with fans and showing my personality. The (viral) clip of me moving the ball out from the corner flag \u2014 it\u2019s just little stuff like that which I enjoy doing, that keeps me hungry.\u2019 There are similarities with Gazza on the pitch, too. Both attacking mavericks. Both among the most inventive English footballers of their respective generations.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018My dad\u2019s favourite player when I was growing up was Gazza \u2014 that sort of midfielder who wants to be creative and entertain the fans and be a personality,\u2019 said the former Leicester star.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Also Christian Eriksen, in more recent years at Tottenham, but since him they probably haven\u2019t had that type of player.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019d put myself in that category, I\u2019m not putting myself on the same level. But I\u2019m that type of player.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I want to entertain. When you start playing football as a kid, you don\u2019t play for anything else.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018There\u2019s no politics, nothing like that. You play because you love playing football and you do the things you love and you become the player you become because of what you do and what you\u2019re good at. That will never change for me. That\u2019s non-negotiable.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018That\u2019s why my journey has gone like this and I\u2019m happy to have ended up at Tottenham.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>No wonder he is happy. His partner Kennedy Alexa gave birth to twins in July. And two goals and two assists in his opening five games since arriving for \u00a345million has made him an instant hit with the Spurs fans.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/07\/20\/75184939-0-image-a-14_1694115513736.jpg\" height=\"431\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Maddison shares similarities with former Tottenham and England star\u00a0Paul Gascoigne<\/p>\n<p>Then there\u2019s England. For so long it appeared that Gareth Southgate didn\u2019t fancy Maddison \u2014 though the England manager has been at pains to rubbish the narrative that he had a personal problem with the midfielder, having continually ignored public calls to pick him.<\/p>\n<p>But Maddison is now cementing his position in the England squad, having returned to the fold just in time to be included in the World Cup squad.<\/p>\n<p>He hasn\u2019t missed a call-up since and is hoping to start in Ukraine on Saturday. Not that Maddison is taking his place for granted.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The minute you start thinking you\u2019re comfortable and you\u2019re in is the minute you\u2019re probably most vulnerable,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12493593\/Maverick-James-Maddison-loves-cast-pantomime-villain-Tottenham-England-midfielder-insists-Im-cheeky-boy-just-like-Gazza.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maverick James Maddison loves being cast as pantomime villain as Tottenham and England midfielder insists: &#8216;I&#8217;m a cheeky boy, just<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Maverick Maddison insists: &amp;apos;I&amp;apos;m a cheeky boy, just like Gazza&amp;apos; 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