England head into their first-ever men’s final on foreign soil this weekend with former Swindon Town loanee Tom Heaton part of the cohort.

Heaton is playing the role of training goalkeeper within the England camp, helping ease the load of Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale, and Dean Henderson and also played a pivotal role in The Three Lions’ penalty success, as Jude Bellingham explained to the BBC following the shoot-out victory over Switzerland.

He said: "This is a massive team effort. Another thing is Dean Henderson, Aaron Ramsdale and Tom Heaton, who have been with us this camp, have been huge in helping us practise the penalties.

"They won’t get the credit they deserve but essentially if they don’t put in the right effort we don’t get to practise properly. And in those moments, you don’t have the right practice to go out and execute.”

Heaton has been involved knowing he has no opportunity to play at the tournament, but still chose to go along with Gareth Southgate’s squad.

The former Burnley goalkeeper has had a strong Premier League career but got his real start at Swindon during the ill-fated 2005/06 season, and his former Swindon teammate Sean O’Hanlon remembers what he was like at 19.

“I think that was around the time that the drinking culture was coming to an end,” he said. “It still existed and the temptation of getting sucked into having a drink on a Saturday night or a Tuesday night when we had Wednesdays off was a big thing.

“You had to be really strong to stay away from that as a young lad when you are trying to impress new teammates, but Tom was like that.

“He was very focused, he was at Swindon to get game time and try and push on. When we had a night out, he would come along but he’d only have one drink and be sensible.

“He was just very level-headed, it was a difficult time when he came in, but I don’t think anything going on would have affected him, he was just so focused.

“I remember playing against him a few years later, his kicking at Swindon wasn’t the best, but it had become so much better.

“He was obviously practising and practising and the next time I came across him he had really improved, especially off the floor, his kicks were sailing over my head as a centre-half.”

Under manager Andy King, Swindon brought in multiple high-profile loanees at the time, including James Milner, and Chris Tanner, Media and Communications Manager at the club between 2003 and 2013, remembers that players like them really stood out.

“Andy King had that relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson,” he said. “One story a lot of staff will remember is all of us used to sit in the same office, it was a small team, and one of the ladies in accounts picked up the phone from ‘some guy called Alex’ and shouted across the office for someone to go and get Andy.

“Obviously that turned out to be Sir Alex and she was berated by Andy for her phone manner and not knowing who he was.

“But he had those connections and his eye for talent was undeniable, he would be out at a game every night.

“Tom was probably quite lucky with his position as he came in at a very difficult time and so coming in as a ‘keeper, you are going to get a lot of exposure. There is no hiding place and there is no better place to learn.

“I remember James Milner coming down and being sent by Kingy to get this young man from the hotel and bring him to training and he would just stay behind every session doing extras and he had that desire to do well.

“I think that those players from those types of clubs had that at that point, a real desire to improve and the same can be said for Tom in terms of his work rate and commitment.

“He didn’t have any airs or graces, no big-time mentality of coming down from Old Trafford, he was here to learn, and he was very humble.”

Southgate said that he wanted Heaton in the camp because of his experience and the positive effect he would have on the group, something that O’Hanlon says was apparent even in the 19-year-old Heaton.

“He was a really nice guy, and I can see exactly why he is in that England set-up,” he said. “Because he is someone who is going to help others and you could see that from such an early age.

“From a player’s point of view, it is very mentally intense [at tournaments] because you are constantly thinking about the game and Tom’s frame of mind will be just to help and support.

“He has got that personality to push others like he used to push himself and that is what you want, he is a winner who expects nothing less than giving your best and he will bring that to the team.”

Tanner added: “I think it was very clever of Gareth Southgate to bring him in and I think it says a lot about his personality that he can be trusted to help that sort of environment.

“He was a very nice guy, always happy to help, there have been plenty who have come through Swindon in the past with a very different reputation, but nothing was ever too much trouble for him.

“I think it is very hard to change personality traits, trust and reliability are things that you are born with – from a footballing perspective you can improve, but I just think he was a good person and that has shone through throughout his career.

“You never see him in the media negatively, like James Milner, they are of a similar ilk of being terribly professional, have come up the right way, and are a wonderful example to younger players.”