England manager Gareth Southgate stuns pupils with surprise appearance at Lawnswood School in Leeds

The Three Lions boss visited Lawnswood School for a mock press conference, enabling pupils from years 10 and 11 to act as journalists and ask him questions.

Visiting as part of Channel 4’s 4Schools initiative, the intention was to inspire the next generation of sport broadcasters. He fielded questions on a variety of topics, including his primary goal for the national team. During the mock press conference, he said: “Right now I have one goal - to become European champions.”

He was also asked to offer advice for pupils approaching their GCSE exams and said: “I’ve been through it so I know how you feel and I would say all you can do is to prepare as well as you can, the more preparation you do the better chance you have to succeed.”

Prior to Southgate’s arrival, pupils had been briefed regarding roles involved in the broadcast of a sporting event and what goes on behind the scenes. However, they were not expecting the man who led England to the Euro 2020 final to make an appearance.

Lawnswood School headteacher Jo Bell said: “This has been just fantastic and so generous of Gareth to give up his time. It’s been an amazing opportunity for our students, they will have learned so much from this and the day will have provided some brilliant inspiration for their futures.”

16-year-old pupil Matthew is keen to become a sports commentator and said: “When Gareth Southgate walked in I couldn’t believe it, I would never have expected him to even be at our school. He is so down to earth, such a nice person.”

Fellow pupil Emil, 14, said: “Normally I’d have been in French or English but instead I was with Gareth Southgate! I thought it was crazy when he walked through the door, I thought it might be a player from a lower division, or maybe even a Leeds player, not the England manager. He was really interesting and a lot of what he talked about applied to what we do in school. It was so cool.”