There is a thirst for knowledge I'm sure will lead England to greatness in the next few years."No wonder, then, that Prost, who is an old-fashioned educator with very modern ideas, says he is in "dreamland" at Southampton. "What I have found is a club who are small but ambitious, and family-orientated but forward-thinking. At Marseille, I never once spoke to Bernard Tapie [the club's managing director last year]. Nor would I have any links with the professional side of things.

But here, I chat with Gordon [Strachan, the manager] and Rupert [Lowe, the chairman] on a regular basis. This is a club going places."It will take several years to witness any tangible results, but you sense that the combination of French teachers and English pupils could provide England with a winning combination in the future. "The other day," Prost smiled, "something happened that leaves me in no doubt that you will be world champions before long. At the end of a training session, some of the kids who were coming off the pitch just thanked me.

In 23 years of coaching in France, no one had ever said that to me before.". Decisions, decisions. More than any other footballers, goalkeepers live and die by them; become heroes by making the right ones and attract nicknames like "Calamity" when getting it wrong How David James must wish his surname was Smith or Brown Decisions, decisions. How David James must wish his surname was Smith or Brown. The temptation for the headline writers was there again after West Ham's 4-1 mauling against his previous club Aston Villa last week, but the verdicts in smaller print were damning enough: "error-strewn, 3/10" was one assessment. A week earlier, a visit from Manchester United brought the dramatically contrasting elements of James' game to the fore, as he escaped punishment for three howlers in the first half, then earned a point for his struggling team right at the finish with a superb double save after stopping Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was through on his own.Among those left shaking their head at the contrast on that occasion was Bob Wilson, who stood between Arsenal's posts for 10 years before moving into television, and remains a goalkeeping consultant to his former club. As David Seaman's mentor, he might be accused of lacking neutrality on the topic of who should be England's No 1 goalkeeper, but he has followed James' career with an expert eye closely enough to be granted a hearing."I feel I can be reasonably objective, because when he was 16 or 17 and I was taking the Watford goalies, we used to say 'Christ, this boy's got everything'.

As a raw talent, because of his build, his elasticity, his ability to make saves that win games – which is ultimately what you're looking for – you thought, 'He's got to go to the very top of the game'. So I was always massively interested in his career."Once given a first-team chance at Watford, with England youth caps behind him, James could not be shifted, barely missing a game for two seasons before Liverpool bought him, understandably believing they had secured a long-term contender for the England position. At that time, in 1992, Seaman had only a handful of caps and was behind Chris Woods in the queue; the last count was Seaman 71 international starts, James four.It hardly helped that some of his worst misjudgements tended to come in the biggest matches. Wilson says, not without sympathy: "Look at his two Cup finals. He played brilliantly against Manchester United, then came for one cross too many that he shouldn't have come for, and Cantona scored.