Source: Telegraph
David James seeks World Cup green light from England manager Fabio Capello
On a teeth-chatteringly cold afternoon at Portsmouth's Eastleigh training complex, the goalkeeper has discovered a novel way of warming himself up: exhibiting his reflexes on a reaction machine that flashes lights for him to touch at a speed faster than most of us can blink. [LNB]High to his right, low to his left, James refuses to be outsmarted. At 39, he has a suspect knee and a gammy ankle, but his poise is little short of perfect. [LNB] Related ArticlesTop moments of the decadeCapello: I know England's penalty takersDavid James eyes Tottenham moveWest Ham 2 Portsmouth 0Zola wants Ancelotti-Mancini aidIan Watmore can sweeten life at the FAConditions on the high veld of Rustenburg next June are hardly going to be comparable to those of snow-bound Hampshire in December, but the challenges will be. [LNB]That is why James is fighting this baffling gym contraption with such fierce concentration. For flashing lights he can, for England, substitute perhaps the power of an American volley, the acute angle of an Algerian header, or even the swerve of a Slovenian free-kick. [LNB]His reaction times are being recorded so that children in inner-city schools can measure themselves against the master. The information might, however, be better harnessed by Fabio Capello, who still needs some convincing that James is his No 1, England's custodian-in-chief. [LNB]James's rebellious calf muscle has put paid to any regular auditions for Capello's benefit this season; indeed, he has started only one of Portsmouth's past eight matches. [LNB]Against Liverpool at Fratton Park recently he was conspicuous in the stands, under a Siberian fur hat looking decidedly displeased. [LNB]"I hate not playing more than anything," James admits. "I hate it more than any injury. When I can't be on the pitch, I'm a very difficult person to be around."[LNB]Fortunately, there are distractions to keep his mind occupied on this day. One is the Copenhagen summit, not an interest you would encounter in many corners of the England dressing room. [LNB]About three years ago, you see, James experienced a green epiphany. Not only did he have the swimming pool at his Devon villa filled in, he developed a somewhat esoteric interest in carbon-efficient heating systems. [LNB]Why, he even ran a campaign with E.On last season to make the FA Cup the country's first carbon-neutral competition. Take the train, turn the kettle off, watch the game down the pub: fans soon got the message. [LNB]James is similarly evangelical towards fellow players, but insists: "I don't preach. Nor do I lecture. I just explain what I perceive to be happening with climate change and how we could make some small sacrifices."[LNB]It seems that James's 'calamity' moniker, borne of a few too many high-profile lapses in goal, might be misplaced. 'Climatey James', anyone? Maybe not. He orders a latte; on a day as bitter as this, even an ardent environmentalist must accept the use of a kettle only the Eastleigh canteen is so dilapidated by Premier League standards that he has to make do with a filter coffee. [LNB]And as if on cue, the sharply tangential course of his conversation turns next to the question of what he is still doing at Portsmouth. [LNB]"One of the most emotional moments of my career was winning the FA Cup for this club last year," he explains. "It was not so much the final, which, by anyone's standards, was not the greatest match and anyone, come to that, would have expected us to beat Cardiff but the parade that the city arranged for us afterwards. [LNB]There were 90,000 people at Wembley, but 200,000 in Portsmouth and Southsea came out just to watch us ride past on a bus. It made you feel valued by the community."[LNB]The problem is that so much change has swept through Portsmouth since that day that the success might as well belong to another lifetime. [LNB]Harry Redknapp, the manager who inspired it, has left for Tottenham, taking Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch with him, while James is left to prop up a financially troubled club marooned in the bottom three, lacking much hope of rekindling his Cup love affair when competition resumes at home to Coventry on Saturday. [LNB] "At a stroke Harry, whom I so looked up to, and our best players all disappeared," James says. "It was quite a shock."[LNB]Avram Grant has helped revive some measure of pride after Redknapp's exit, even if the Israeli intends to make another drastic overhaul of the Portsmouth squad in next month's transfer market. [LNB]On Christmas Eve the manager-elect claimed that the long-awaited reunion of James and Redknapp would not be one of the changes countenanced. [LNB]James betrayed a different idea through his earnest praise of Tottenham, and the scant enthusiasm with which he defined Portsmouth's cause. "My job is help the club survive."[LNB]So squarely focused is he on the imperatives of the league that the World Cup seems not to feature in his imagination. Or so he claims: Frank Lampard made the same argument when he said recently that Chelsea would be a deeper preoccupation than England for the next six months, but James is a different case by the fact that he has never been the No 1 in his position in a World Cup year. [LNB]In 2002 he played understudy to David Seaman, while in Germany in 2006 he was carrying Paul Robinson's bags. "I'm conscious of it, but it's not a situation I'm intimidated by. I know Fabio has faith in me." [LNB]James's admiration for Capello's methods is profound. "Nothing is ever left to chance. He tells me what I need to know, nothing more. [LNB]To an extent, it was the same under [Sven-Goran] Eriksson, in that you could pass him in the corridor without hearing any pleasantries. But Capello has been brilliant: he is so methodical, he can pinpoint any problem in your game in seconds."[LNB]As an antidote to the Italian's detachment, the good humour of Franco Baldini, the general manager, is an addition to the England camp that James appreciates. [LNB]"Franco acts as a point of normal human contact, if you like. He is the man you can talk to." [LNB]In a season where he could save a club from relegation and defend his country's honour en route, just possibly, to untold jubilation, James needs every bit of normality he can find. [LNB]David James is an ambassador for E.On's Great Saves campaign which is encouraging fans and families to make great energy saves around the home. For more information visit www.eongreatsaves.com
