WHILE many football fans were left feeling low after watching England's World Cup end at the hands of Croatia in Russia, it was a different story for one Wiltshire man, for whom football really was coming home.

The Senior World Cup competition was based out in Thailand with the aim for the England side to retain the title they had claimed on each of the previous two occasions.

A faultless run through to the final saw them come up against familiar opponents, Scotland, who the Three Lions dispatched 4-0 to keep hold the trophy.

Watching over their bid to retain the title was Devizes’ Ian Nockolds, there in charge of media duties for the team during their time at the tournament.

While the performance and outcome of the tournament was what they were looking for, Nockolds reveals not everything went quite to plan off the field when it came to broadcasting England's success.

“Twitter was as good as it was going to get for me while I was out in Thailand and it was all going so well until five minutes from full-time when Twitter suspended our account for ‘unusual behaviour’.

“I appreciate that England don’t win many World Cups, but unusual behaviour is a bit much.

“We were 4-0 up at the time and cruising to the final whistle.

"The bench had rung the changes, to give as many of the players as possible a chance to experience playing in a World Cup final.

“I had only one job left to do and that was to post the final score, saying that England had won the 2018 Seniors World Cup, but that was a tweet that I was unable to send for 48 hours, until we’d landed back in England. I could have cried (in fact I did).”

Nockolds is well known around the local non-league circuit during his time presenting a sports show for Somer Valley FM and it was an interview with a former professional goalkeeper that sparked his interest in the England senior side.

“My interest in non-league football in the South West led me to interview Steve Phillips, the former Bristol City and Bristol Rovers goalkeeper,” he added.

“We spoke about his involvement with the England Veterans football team. These conversations led to an introduction to the team manager Paul Bell and the rest is history.

“My interest in sports journalism is very much a hobby and I’ve never been paid for any broadcast or article.

“Like the rest of the England Veterans squad I paid for my own flight to Thailand, so I don’t do any of this for the money, just for the love of the game.”