John McDermott appreciates that victors have a tendency to be overly magnanimous. Showering a defeated opponent with praise is another way of congratulating yourself on being brilliant.
Yet the relationships the FA’s technical director has built up over more than 30 years in the professional game, working for Watford, Tottenham and the FA, mean that some professional players are trusted friends and candid even when opponents.
And it was speaking with a France player in the Al Bayt Stadium on the night of December 10, in the aftermath of England’s 2-1 defeat in the World Cup quarter-finals by France, that the reality of how close Gareth Southgate’s team are to winning the World Cup truly crystallised in McDermott’s mind.