The England Coach Carrying Heartbreak Into World Cup ’26 | Justin Cochrane (E410)
The High Performance Podcast
High Performance
4.6 • 4.8K Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2026
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Justin Cochrane is one of elite football’s most respected coaches and a vital part of the England Men's backroom team. Justin’s leadership focuses on reading a squad’s emotional temperature and providing players the freedom to be themselves.
In this episode, Justin shares the moving story of losing his wife Leeanne to cancer and how her selfless approach to her final days redefined his perspective. He discusses the "medicine" of football, explaining how returning to coaching weeks after her death provided the stability needed to carry immense grief while operating at the highest level.
Justin also speaks to Jake and Damian about how personal trauma made him a better leader by shortening the gap between disappointment and recovery. From raising his three sons alone to preparing for a World Cup, Justin offers a masterclass in resilience, guided by Leeanne’s final gift: the reminder to always have "someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to."
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This week on high performance, the England coach carrying personal heartbreak all the way to the World Cup. |
| 0:09.0 | If there was a life going well scale from 0 to 100, I was in the mid 90s, everything was going well. |
| 0:16.0 | I signed a new contract at Brentford, my three sons, it was just beautiful. |
| 0:19.0 | I got a phone call to say, it's come back as cancerous. |
| 0:22.6 | There was like two existing emotions at the same time, |
| 0:26.6 | one of hope, okay, we're gonna beat this, |
| 0:28.6 | and one of reality that the statistics say that |
| 0:31.6 | it's unlike you live past 12 months. |
| 0:33.6 | And Leander's coming and said, |
| 0:35.6 | Mummy might die. The truth is, mommy might die, but you've got each other, you've got the best dad. And Leander's coming in and said, Mommy Might Die. |
| 0:40.0 | The truth is, Mommy Might Die, but you've got each other. |
| 0:42.6 | You've got the best dad that can take care of you. |
| 0:45.4 | And it was the worst day of my life. |
| 0:50.7 | Justin, welcome to the show. |
| 0:51.9 | Thank you for having me. |
| 0:57.0 | So, look, you're part of Thomas Suhull's background team as we gear up for a World Cup. |
| 0:58.9 | How are you feeling? |
| 1:04.7 | Yeah, just extremely excited, looking forward to at the first of June when we fly out and looking forward to going with a team on this World Cup journey where fingers crossed, |
| 1:09.3 | things got away, maybe we have an opportunity |
| 1:11.1 | to win some silverware. It would be very, very tricky, very tough, but ultimately just looking |
| 1:15.3 | forward to it. |
| 1:16.2 | And you're a guy who built your career work in youth football after your playing career finished. |
... |
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