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| Why I salute Southgate’s England – and not even through gritted teeth | Why I salute Southgate’s England – and not even through gritted teeth |
| (5 months later) | |
| Many of the frills and trimmings we associate with an English summer have been on display this month. This year’s contrived controversy at Wimbledon was about smartphone access to the World Cup and the big papers are again commissioning psychologists to explain why a reality television show has come to define the country. | Many of the frills and trimmings we associate with an English summer have been on display this month. This year’s contrived controversy at Wimbledon was about smartphone access to the World Cup and the big papers are again commissioning psychologists to explain why a reality television show has come to define the country. |
| The weather is unseasonably hot instead of unseasonably wet or unseasonably cold. The Tories are disembowelling themselves (and the country) over Europe and the rightwing press remains vigilant about artful migrants trying to beat the system. We’ve even had a ceremonial set piece combining two of those elements the BBC always reaches for when it wants to convey the message that we’re all in it together: the RAF centenary flypast celebrated past military glories and allowed the male royals to dress up as toy soldiers. | The weather is unseasonably hot instead of unseasonably wet or unseasonably cold. The Tories are disembowelling themselves (and the country) over Europe and the rightwing press remains vigilant about artful migrants trying to beat the system. We’ve even had a ceremonial set piece combining two of those elements the BBC always reaches for when it wants to convey the message that we’re all in it together: the RAF centenary flypast celebrated past military glories and allowed the male royals to dress up as toy soldiers. |
| If July had also featured the routine evisceration of the national football team returning defeated and wretched from another dismal overseas tournament, the perfect summer would have been complete. No tabloid firing squads greeted Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad, though, and his face was not being squashed into the form of a common vegetable on the front page of the Sun. | If July had also featured the routine evisceration of the national football team returning defeated and wretched from another dismal overseas tournament, the perfect summer would have been complete. No tabloid firing squads greeted Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad, though, and his face was not being squashed into the form of a common vegetable on the front page of the Sun. |
| Instead, Southgate was garlanded and feted. No decent turf accountant will take bets on him being knighted and voted the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year. England’s international football fortunes had fallen so steeply that remaining undefeated by Tunisia, Panama, Colombia and Sweden, while being deservedly beaten by Belgium and Croatia, is deemed sufficient for the manager to be mentioned alongside Churchill, Nelson and Wellington. There’s a case for stating that previous English teams that had fallen heroically to defeats on penalties by the likes of Argentina and Portugal and a freaky goal by Brazil had actually performed better. | Instead, Southgate was garlanded and feted. No decent turf accountant will take bets on him being knighted and voted the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year. England’s international football fortunes had fallen so steeply that remaining undefeated by Tunisia, Panama, Colombia and Sweden, while being deservedly beaten by Belgium and Croatia, is deemed sufficient for the manager to be mentioned alongside Churchill, Nelson and Wellington. There’s a case for stating that previous English teams that had fallen heroically to defeats on penalties by the likes of Argentina and Portugal and a freaky goal by Brazil had actually performed better. |
| Gareth Southgate sanguine as he calls for extra composure against ‘top teams’ | |
| No matter; Southgate has achieved much more than this and thus deserves the nation’s gratitude. Instead of choosing to be defined by a tabloid television show celebrating voyeurism by encouraging its emotionally vulnerable young participants to mate with each other in public and its audience to glory in the inevitable psychological detritus, England have been rescued by Gareth Southgate. Here is a man who speaks wisely about his sport and draws sensible analogies between football and real life. He protects his young charges, respects his opponents and avoids all displays of triumphalism. The sense of entitlement that has accompanied previous English football squads has been absent. | No matter; Southgate has achieved much more than this and thus deserves the nation’s gratitude. Instead of choosing to be defined by a tabloid television show celebrating voyeurism by encouraging its emotionally vulnerable young participants to mate with each other in public and its audience to glory in the inevitable psychological detritus, England have been rescued by Gareth Southgate. Here is a man who speaks wisely about his sport and draws sensible analogies between football and real life. He protects his young charges, respects his opponents and avoids all displays of triumphalism. The sense of entitlement that has accompanied previous English football squads has been absent. |
| England performed no more than decently at the World Cup but in doing so exceeded expectations. At times, they were very good indeed, especially in the first half of their game against a world-class Croatia. Southgate was able to switch smoothly between tactical formations according to the shifting demands of games and the nature of his opponents. All his players acted in a way that made you believe they felt privileged to be representing their country instead of the other way about. This team and its manager have a future. | England performed no more than decently at the World Cup but in doing so exceeded expectations. At times, they were very good indeed, especially in the first half of their game against a world-class Croatia. Southgate was able to switch smoothly between tactical formations according to the shifting demands of games and the nature of his opponents. All his players acted in a way that made you believe they felt privileged to be representing their country instead of the other way about. This team and its manager have a future. |
| Southgate even achieved the rare feat of avoiding repeating the phrase “It’s coming home” when asked to do so by television journalists. He is bright enough to know that this witless anthem had the potential to become a real handicap to his English team. What better way to put fire in the belly of your opponents and stoke their passions than by telling them relentlessly that they might as well not turn up because the outcome is assured? Luka Modric, Croatia’s midfield genius and the chief architect of England’s downfall, revealed as much in his post-match interviews. | Southgate even achieved the rare feat of avoiding repeating the phrase “It’s coming home” when asked to do so by television journalists. He is bright enough to know that this witless anthem had the potential to become a real handicap to his English team. What better way to put fire in the belly of your opponents and stoke their passions than by telling them relentlessly that they might as well not turn up because the outcome is assured? Luka Modric, Croatia’s midfield genius and the chief architect of England’s downfall, revealed as much in his post-match interviews. |
| By displaying humility in triumph and dignity in defeat, Southgate sparked something improbable in the country he represents: he restored England’s pride in its national football team. In Scotland, he achieved something recently thought impossible: his personal conduct just about silenced the “anyone but England” brigade who become animated at these football tournaments. The antipathy shown by many Scots towards the English football team has many causes and is a complicated thing. Much of it is benign and harmless and stems principally from a natural desire to see a much bigger and more powerful neighbour humbled. This is also fuelled by the BBC and ITV choosing to provide a platform for some pundits utterly lacking in objectivity, perspective or context. | By displaying humility in triumph and dignity in defeat, Southgate sparked something improbable in the country he represents: he restored England’s pride in its national football team. In Scotland, he achieved something recently thought impossible: his personal conduct just about silenced the “anyone but England” brigade who become animated at these football tournaments. The antipathy shown by many Scots towards the English football team has many causes and is a complicated thing. Much of it is benign and harmless and stems principally from a natural desire to see a much bigger and more powerful neighbour humbled. This is also fuelled by the BBC and ITV choosing to provide a platform for some pundits utterly lacking in objectivity, perspective or context. |
| However, a lot of it is immature and indicative of something darker and has left some of my English friends and colleagues living in Scotland occasionally feeling threatened. | However, a lot of it is immature and indicative of something darker and has left some of my English friends and colleagues living in Scotland occasionally feeling threatened. |
| Even among England’s detractors in Scotland, Southgate has elicited a degree of grudging approval; he seems to possess those qualities that Scots admire and that we like to think epitomise our own national character. We conveniently choose to ignore the probability that many of us similarly would lose all sense of decorum and objectivity if Scotland were ever able to bother the latter stages of a major international football tournament. | Even among England’s detractors in Scotland, Southgate has elicited a degree of grudging approval; he seems to possess those qualities that Scots admire and that we like to think epitomise our own national character. We conveniently choose to ignore the probability that many of us similarly would lose all sense of decorum and objectivity if Scotland were ever able to bother the latter stages of a major international football tournament. |
| The approval ratings among Scots football fans for England are unprecedented in my lifetime. Under Southgate, they have become easier to admire and you can proclaim your backing for them openly and without making excuses. | The approval ratings among Scots football fans for England are unprecedented in my lifetime. Under Southgate, they have become easier to admire and you can proclaim your backing for them openly and without making excuses. |
| Julius Caesar, Hadrian, the Vikings, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair have all tried and failed to pacify the Scots. Southgate might not have pacified us and we won’t, you know, actually be cheering England on or talking about MCMLXVI soon. But if Southgate or Harry Kane (was a captain ever cast in his manager’s likeness more than he?) walked into a bar in Glasgow, we might actually consider buying them a drink. | Julius Caesar, Hadrian, the Vikings, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair have all tried and failed to pacify the Scots. Southgate might not have pacified us and we won’t, you know, actually be cheering England on or talking about MCMLXVI soon. But if Southgate or Harry Kane (was a captain ever cast in his manager’s likeness more than he?) walked into a bar in Glasgow, we might actually consider buying them a drink. |
| • Kevin McKenna is an Observer columnist | • Kevin McKenna is an Observer columnist |
| Gareth Southgate | Gareth Southgate |
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| World Cup 2018 | World Cup 2018 |
| World Cup | World Cup |
| Scotland | Scotland |
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