Sheffield ‘could nick official World Cup parade from London’ after it provided spine of Gareth Southgate’s heroic England team

SHEFFIELD could end up stealing the official World Cup parade from London because so many players come from the local area.

Kyle Walker, Jamie Vardy and Harry Maguire were all born in the city while Danny Rose and John Stones are from South Yorkshire.

Gary Cahill was born in Dronfield, just seven miles south of Sheffield and Fabian Delph is from Bradford in West Yorkshire.

If England beat Croatia tonight and book their place in Sunday’s final there is expected to be a parade in the capital next week.

However, former sports minister Richard Caborn wants Sheffield to have a significant role in the celebrations because so many players are from the region.

Mr Caborn, who was born in Sheffield, also stated that the city is the home of football as Sheffield FC is the oldest club in the world having been founded in 1857.

He told The Times: “If football is really coming home, then it should come home to Sheffield where the game was founded.

“People are talking about South Yorkshire steel and I’m sure that’s a factor.

“Also, they’re probably speaking in South Yorkshire dialect and the opposition can’t understand them.”

Sheffield City Council leader Julie Dore also wants the city to be recognised as having a significant influence on Gareth Southgate’s heroic squad.

She pointed out that a quarter of England’s 23-man squad all come from the area surrounding the city and wrote a letter to Martin Glenn, the FA’s chief executive.

Ms Dore wrote: “With the achievements so far we all sincerely hope the squad will go on and lift the World Cup on Sunday.

“We do however believe that arrangements should start to be put in place to recognise the considerable efforts of the team and I would like to invite the FA to jointly host with the city, a football coming home celebration.

“Such a celebration would be very appropriate in Sheffield, the city that is home to the first rules of football and to the oldest football club in the world, Sheffield FC.”

It is unclear whether a bus parade will be organised if England lose to Croatia in Moscow this evening.

In 1990, more than 200,000 people attended a parade in Luton, Beds, after England lost the World Cup semi-final.