Raheem Sterling’s confrontation with Joe Gomez lasted only 10 to 15 seconds according to those present, yet the fallout from it will run significantly longer for England, Gareth Southgate and the FA.



The incident, which led to Sterling being dropped for the game against Montenegro on Thursday evening, took place at about 12.30pm on Monday at St George’s Park.



Gomez was in the canteen shaking everyone’s hand and then reached Sterling, who was sitting down. Sterling snapped and responded, “So you think you’re the big man?”, stood up and tried to get Gomez in a headlock, knocking food over from the table. “It was a pretty full-on thing and food went everywhere,” said one source. “Sterling behaved like a bit of a child.”



Another source said: “It was all out of the blue, ‘Woah, what the hell has happened here?’. Everyone was just a bit shocked.”



The roots of Monday’s...