England boss Gareth Southgate will allow his players to bring their Wags and families to the 2018 World Cup in Russia

Ex-Three Lions boss Fabio Capello famously banned wives from tournaments because he thought they were distracting

Posted Sunday, October 01, 2017 by Thesun.co.uk

GARETH SOUTHGATE has given the green light for Wags to invade Russia.

The England boss will keep his players away from partying between the Premier League season and World Cup but is relaxed about wives and girlfriends at next year's global tournament.

England boss Gareth Southgate will allow his players to bring their Wags and families to the 2018 World Cup in Russia
Perrie Edwards will be able to accompany Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to the World Cup

He said: "I don't think there has ever been a tournament where the whole family has been in with us the whole time. But will I encourage families to come and the lads to see them the day after a game, absolutely I will.

"For some, that will be really important. Sadly for my family, not so much. I'm there and I'm focused and I don't want to be distracted."

Wags stole the limelight from Sven-Goran Eriksson's Three Lions in Baden-Baden at the World Cup in Germany in 2006.

Italian Fabio Capello clamped down on other halves during his era as England boss but Southgate has taken a different view.

He said: "We want an environment where players are relaxed. It becomes a bubble where there's nothing else in your life and small things become much bigger than they should be and there's nothing else to talk about.

"You're not hearing anything else, you're just talking about the tournament and then training. If they can get out of the hotel at certain times then great, but that's not always easy."

England boss Gareth Southgate will allow his players to bring their Wags and families to the 2018 World Cup in Russia
Jamie Vardy will be bringing wife Rebekah if he's selected

Fifa rules mean no football is played between May 21-27, which protects players from cash-driven friendlies for club or country.

But Southgate will ensure his players follow fitness guidelines if given time off and wants to avoid a repeat of 2012 when Wayne Rooney went to Las Vegas before the Euros.

Southgate said: "Whatever happens — and I haven't decided on that in terms of an amount of time — the lads always have a conditioning programme in the close season from their clubs.

"So there will always be something to keep them fit, otherwise you can tail off. You have to keep a certain level right through."

England now have qualifiers against Slovenia and Lithuania to book their World Cup spot and Southgate has started looking at hotels and training camps in Russia.

England boss Gareth Southgate will allow his players to bring their Wags and families to the 2018 World Cup in Russia
Chris Smalling and Sam Cooke will be hoping to get to Russia

England boss Gareth Southgate will allow his players to bring their Wags and families to the 2018 World Cup in Russia
Harry Kane and his wife are sure to be on the plane to Russia

He added: "There are key factors on distance from your base to your training ground. That's the journey you are going to make most and if it's too far you might decide not to do that extra session.

"Ideally for me, the hotel is just for us because it's important for the players so they can feel relaxed and can switch off. It would be wrong not to plan. We've been out there, and identified possibilities which will depend on the draw.

"There will be other areas in the camp where we're not just thinking about how to get the points to get us through. Like how do we win the two games and how we build on how we want to play in the mentality of moving forward.

"You never lose focus on next week but, equally, we would be negligent and behind the game if we weren't planning long term."