In the latest episode of Shut Up And Show More Football, David Jackson and Colin Fray spoke of their delight as Morgan Gibbs-White made his debut for England’s senior men’s side, coming on as a 76th-minute substitute during the recent international break.
“It was a lovely moment on Saturday evening when he came on as a substitute [for Jack Grealish against the Republic of Ireland] and made his way on to the pitch,” Jackson said.
“Just about everybody in Nottinghamshire in one way or another, showed their pride on social media.
“That feeling, it has been a long time since we had a Forest player representing England and seeing Gibbs-White run out on to the pitch you sort of felt like a proud dad. There goes a Forest player playing for England again.
“It has been over a quarter of a century we have waited for this moment. For the decade or more before that, it was commonplace and now we have had a long time.
“It is going to be really tough for him from now on to get back in. He’s going to have to really keep producing and take it on to another level as well because this time an opportunity presented itself because Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Jude Bellingham had pulled out before.
“He has got there, he’s got that England cap, now his aim is to build on that and get more, it’s going to be a big ask.”
Gibbs-White has tasted success with England at youth level, winning the Under-21 European Championship last year and the Under-17 World Cup in 2017 with former Forest boss Steve Cooper.
Fray added: “Taken for granted I think by a generation of Forest fans but then another generation has come along and never seen it. It’s another one of those generational moments that has been a feature of Forest over the last three or four years.
“It is just great to see and the reward for some very good performances as well. You don’t just get an England call-up. To be fair, there were a lot of injuries but he has taken his chance and gone in there and done well with the minutes that he had.
“But even with injuries you don’t get an England call-up for the sake of it, you get an England call-up because you are playing well at your club level and you’re a very, very good player and you’ve been working hard as Nuno [Espirito-Santo] said. Many, many congratulations to him, it was a great moment and it was another one of those moments that for a Forest fan of a certain age, they will have never experienced before and that is a Forest player taking the field in an England shirt.
“It’s shown over the last quarter of a century or so how difficult it is to be at those kind of levels where you are capable of producing England players.”
Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds
