Southgate upbeat despite dislocating shoulder

ENGLAND manager Gareth Southgate dramatically dislocated his right shoulder while out running in Repino yesterday afternoon.

Southgate fell awkwardly during a run close to England’s team base in the sleepy village just outside St Petersburg while trying to take advantage of the squad’s day off.

Southgate had to be assisted by FA staff and was treated by team doctor Rob Chakraverty, before being taken to a local hospital for further treatment.

But Southgate managed to return to the England team hotel in Repino last night to hold a team meeting for the rest of the squad.

The injury should not seriously disrupt England’s preparations for their next game, against Panama in Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday afternoon.

England are due to fly from St Petersburg on Saturday after two more full days of training in nearby Zelenogorsk before then.

Southgate confirmed that he will not be able to celebrate any future goals in the same way as he marked Harry Kane’s last minute winner on Monday night against Tunisia.

“I might not be celebrating any goals as athletically in future,” Southgate joked.

“The doc has made it clear that punching the air is not an option.

“We have got such a great support team and they were there very quickly.

“They were supposed to be relaxing because we let the players have a bit of time off and I am causing them work.

“We are lucky we have a topclass medical team around us, so it was fine.

“I had brilliant help from them, and I am just sorry that I managed to ruin their day off.”

With Dele Alli struggling with a quad injury which is likely to rule him out of the Panama game, Southgate laughed that it is better for him to be injured than one of his squad.

“It is better this is me than one of the players,” Southgate said.

“They were a bit surprised in the team meeting and were asking ‘what have you been doing!?’ — as always, they were probably quite amused.

“It is good that we have had a quiet day so I had prepared the meeting before and we are on to preparations for Panama.”

The rest of the England squad spent the day off with their families or sight-seeing in nearby St Petersburg. Injured: England boss Gareth Southgate fell while out running