IT may have been Harry Kane who captured England’s pride and joy with his hat-trick, but it was the smallest man on the pitch who won the heart of a nation.
The Sun
Jesse Lingard overcame being smashed in the face and roughed up by Panama’s players to score the goal of the game.
And his inner toughness is all down to his grandad Ken, a 79-year-old GB powerlifter who believed against all the odds that the lad with sparrow-thin legs had what it takes to become a great footballer.
Despite now living in a £2,8 million Cheshire mansion and earning £100 000 a week, the 25-year-old star, who scored the blistering third goal against Panama last Sunday, has never forgotten his roots.
Most days, Jesse leaves his team Manchester United’s training ground and heads to the outskirts of Warrington, where he parks his matt black Bentley outside his maternal grandparents’ modest bungalow.
He and Ken will then chat and play with the family’s terrier while his nan, Pam, puts the kettle on. The couple is so proud they have the player’s No. 7 England shirt hanging in the window of their living room.
Jesse is so close to his family that he keeps a photo of his former gymnast mum Kirsty on the wall of his room in the England camp in Russia.
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He also regularly visits younger siblings Jasper and Daisy Boo.
Jesse, who is named after his great-grandmother, loves these visits to his old home town.
He once said: “It’s like I’m a young boy again, still getting advice.
I like that.
It’s good.
“Family is so important.
You only get one and you have to make the most of them.”
Jesse’s paternal grandparents, Isolyn and Cyril George, are from the Caribbean island of St Vincent’s.
Dad Roy George was born in England.
His parents split not long after he was born, but he stays in touch with his father, who used to play semi-professional football and drilled him for pre-season training.
Ken watched as his tiny grandson went to Beamont Primary school in Warrington, where most kids dreamed of being rugby league stars.
But he was determined that Jesse should be a footballer.
“We played rugby and I was decent — a winger.
But even at primary school, grandad would drive past the playground and tell me to stop.
He thought I would get hurt,” Jesse said.
Instead, Ken had young Jesse out every night on the astroturf at nearby Whitecross Community Centre, honing his football skills.
Ron Jamieson, secretary of Fletcher Moss Rangers, the south Manchester youth team where Jesse played briefly, said: “He was only a dot when he turned up.
“He was five years old, but he looked more like he was four.
We did a warm-up and he was doing step-overs, Cruyff turns, the lot.”
By the time he turned seven, Ken was driving Jesse up and down the M62 as he played games for United and Liverpool youth teams.
But during a game for Liverpool when no one passed a ball to him, Jesse decided to sign up for United’s famous academy.
Once he started training with United, Jesse made an immediate impression, despite being so small and speaking barely above a whisper.
It was here he learned bravery, how to score spectacular goals, and his distinctive goal celebrations.
He also learned to cope with failure.
Ken was once banned from his grandson’s matches for two months after Jesse’s team lost at Stoke.
The star recalled: “He started telling all the kids they’d been terrible but we were only nine.
The club told him to stay away for a while.”
A year later he moved to Old Trafford and lived in digs while mum Kirsty would telephone most days in tears insisting he stuck to his schoolwork rather than just play football.
He ended up with 13 GCSEs.
On the field he was simply too small and was often made to play in teams with kids who were much younger than himself.
But United’s legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson was watching and he believed Jesse had what it takes.
“Sir Alex said, ‘Don’t worry — 22, 23, that’s when you’re going to stop growing and start playing’ and it happened.
“He understood I was a late developer.
I put my trust in him and it paid off. I can only thank him.”
Success, Jesse said, “comes down to how grounded you are, how much you are willing to give.
I was never out with my friends.
It’s just hard work and dedication with me.”
One close pal at the Youth Academy was fellow England and Man Utd star Marcus Rashford and they are still friends today.
Today Jesse knows the name of everyone at the ground, from the cleaners to the ground staff, and has a different handshake for each one.
