England's Gordon on chess, boxing and his love of self-help books

Sometimes England and Newcastle forward Anthony Gordon wakes up and writes down his goals for the day. Not just football, but "for life as well".

Liverpudlian Gordon, 23, is one of a number of this current England Euro 2024 squad to speak openly about manifestation and visualisation - setting out targets that you want to come true.

"Sometimes I do it in the morning and visualise who I want to be for that day," says Gordon.

"It's just about setting your intentions to who you want to be and it allows you to do that a lot easier.

"We're all naturally very emotional and when you're emotional you tend to make bad decisions. It's trying to come away from those emotions and trying to see the bigger picture."

Gordon spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live's Steve Crossman at England's Blankenhain camp on Tuesday about his love of boxing, chess and psychology books...

Gordon left boyhood club Everton for Newcastle in January 2023, in a deal worth up to £45m. He had been at Goodison since the age of 11.

"I think everyone in Liverpool likes boxing. I think every kid just finds themselves in the local boxing club.

"You grow up watching it as well. On the pitch, I think it makes me more aggressive, play with more tenacity.

"Before I started [boxing], I was down a lot. I would get pushed off the ball a lot.

"And then when I started doing it, it brought out a different side of me, aggression, and just wanting to win, more desire in those battles."

Gordon also says he likes the "deep thought process" of chess and the "hard challenge" of learning how to play.

“I think chess is a life skill because it applies to everything. You've always got to think one, two, three moves ahead.

“Chess I actually taught myself - I didn't have a clue how to play it. I just learned by playing.

"I just love it. It's a very peaceful game. It gets my brain working, which I love."

In an interview on The Overlap with former Premier League defender Gary Neville earlier this year, Gordon gave an insight into his mental toughness and his love of books on psychology and sport.

He revealed the book that has had the biggest impact on him is Winning by Tim Grover. The author is the former trainer of NBA legends Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

Gordon says: "That's an incredible book about mentality and the things you've got to go through to really succeed. It's basically saying you can do everything you feel like you can do and still come up short. But you won't have regrets then.

"He's walking you through high-level sport. To be at the very top, things we go through every single day are tough and crazy sometimes.

"Not a lot of people would know we go through so many different emotions. Then it's dealing with them and being composed and we still have to perform regardless of what's going on.

“He's giving you ways to deal with that, so it helped me massively."

Gordon told BBC Sport that he has three books with him in Germany - Dan Carter's The Art of Winning and Leadership, David Goggins' Never Finished and Life Force by scientist Tony Robbins.

On Life Force, Gordon explains: "[Manchester United goalkeeper] Tom Heaton was talking about Ronaldo at the table the other day and said that was the book he was reading and suggested it to the Man Utd lads.

"I was earwigging and thinking, 'If Ronaldo reads it, I'm going to have a little read and see if I can pick anything out!'"

On the theme of visualisation, Gordon says it is a form of "meditation" for him and he "loves" the "deep thinking and really challenging my mind".

He says he tries to play the game out before it happens, different scenarios for different opponents.

England play Denmark on Thursday in their second group game after an opening 1-0 win over Serbia in which Gordon did not feature.

“When you're emotional and tired, you're probably going to make worse decisions," explains Gordon.

“So if I can set my intentions and visualise them before the game, I can follow a clearer path to my intentions."

Gordon recorded career-best figures of 11 goals and 10 assists in the 2023-24 Premier League season, on the back of being named player of the tournament as England won the European Under-21 Championship in July 2023.

He only writes down short-term goals "as if they have already happened" and a date to achieve them by.

"That gives me no time to debate them and just it's a clear path to follow," he explains.

This started at that U21 tournament.

"I came off a season when I was struggling. I had just joined Newcastle and I couldn't really get in the team.

"I went to the Under-21 Euros and my main goal was to win player of the tournament and to win the tournament, which I did.

“They were two massive goals that have gone on to change my life really, because my trajectory [since then] has gone upwards.

"My main goal last year was to be Newcastle's most important player. So I'm never coming off, I want the manager to always believe in me, even if we're struggling, I want him to value me and having me on the pitch."