GARETH SOUTHGATE KNOWS ALL ABOUT THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
Southgate no stranger to the highs and lows of a battle of Britain
THERE’S no little irony in the fact that the globalisation of the major leagues in the past 20 years has cast an ever-lengthening shadow over international football.
Where once participating in biennial summer tournaments seemed the raison d’etre of all, international breaks these days are increasingly viewed as a rude interruption on the domestic scene.
This week’s hiatus is different, however. There is no need to clear the throat and beg one’s pardon. England versus Scotland speaks for itself.
By the time a fresh-faced Gareth Southgate announced himself on the scene in the late ’80s, the Home Internationals that traditionally wrapped up the season had been mothballed. Accordingly, a reprisal of the oldest international fixture at both Euro 96 and in the play-offs for Euro 2000 were causes for delirious anticipation.
It’s tempting to suggest that those members of the respective squads too young to remember the extraordinary hype which engulfed those occasions may be the better for it as the minutes tick down to Friday.
‘It can be, because you’re not burdened by history,’ said Southgate. ‘But I think you also need to be aware of what’s coming. ‘We don’t want to be underprepared for what it means to Scotland and what it means to their supporters — and what it means to our supporters.’
Only if you had been domiciled in the Amazon jungle for the past 20 years could you have possibly have been unaware of the circumstances surrounding the first of those meetings.
England’s pre-tournament trip to Asia had ended in infamy when Paul Gascoigne was pictured strapped to a dentist’s chair in a Hong Kong bar while copious amounts of liquor were poured down his throat. The current England manager was left counting his blessings.
‘I had got pally with Stuart Pearce,’ recalled Southgate. ‘I said to him: ‘‘We’re having a night out with the lads’’.
‘He said: ‘‘No, in my experience of England, if you go out for a drink, it’s as if nobody has ever drunk before in their lives. So my advice to you is swerve it’’. Sometimes, advice like that is good!’
For all the inevitable public outrage, there was no hangover for Terry Venables’ side as far as the Auld Enemy clash was concerned.
Gascoigne’s bamboozling of Colin Hendry within a minute of Gary McAllister’s penalty miss vindicated all that had gone before. His mock celebration as renowned as his moment of genius.
‘He was unique in terms of his personality,’ recalled Southgate.
‘Bryan Robson (then a coach) made him a fishing rod, and he was pretend fishing in the bath at Wembley that day because that was the only time he ever relaxed.
‘They created something out of the medical skip — to calm him down. He used to go fishing with David Seaman during the afternoons to get himself out of everybody’s hair for a while. He found that the most relaxing thing, but God knows what he was actually fishing in the bath for.
‘Only he could remember the celebration he was going to do having scored.
‘How does it even cross your mind that you’ve got to the do the dentist’s chair?’
Defeat that day left Scotland down but not quite out. By beating the Swiss at Villa Park, Craig Brown’s side gave themselves a slugger’s chance of qualifying.
When England went four-up against the Dutch, it was game-on momentarily. However, when Patrick Kluivert’s daisy-cutter beat Seaman — surely the most significant of consolations — it was all off again.
The audible cheers that rang around Wembley — in celebration of Scotland’s imminent elimination — say much about how deep feelings will run at the end of this week. ‘I wasn’t aware of that until after,’ insisted Southgate.
‘It’s the oldest international fixture. The rivalry is obvious. The history between the two countries is obvious.’
That summer, only a stud’s length prevented Gascoigne putting his country into a final against the Czech Republic at Germany’s expense.
In the 30 years since claiming the World Cup, Euro 96 arguably represented England’s best chance of winning another tournament.
By the time the play-offs for the next Euros came around, Gascoigne’s international career was over and Kevin Keegan was struggling to convince in the manager’s role.
A two-goal win at Hampden in the first leg seemed to settle the issue, but Scotland were hurt and emboldened.
The history books record that England prevailed on aggregate despite going down at home to Don Hutchison’s first-half goal. For Southgate, promoted from the bench for the game in London, it was a victory of mixed emotions.
‘The game at Wembley wasn’t a particularly good one,’ he reflected.
‘The performance was poor. We kept conceding possession of the ball. That was our biggest problem.
‘But, again, they are games you learn a lot from as well. You have to find the right level of emotional control. High motivation, but not over-aroused in a sporting sense, if you know what I mean.’
The re-engagement of one the international game’s most ancient sporting battles scarcely requires sub-plots. Nonetheless, Wembley will be rich with them.
Gordon Strachan’s future as Scotland manager being on the line would be intriguing enough. For Southgate’s four-match trial period to conclude with this clash and Tuesday’s friendly with Spain makes the script sumptuous.
The 46-year-old’s own take on what may or not transpire remains commendably selfless.
‘I have to prepare for these games,’ he stated. ‘I think it would be wrong to be distracted by anything else.
‘My future is not important. What is important is that the team is top of the group going into Christmas and that the country is in a good place with that. Then, there is time for whatever process is going to happen to take place.’
It would take a brave man to wager that both Strachan and Southgate will be in situ come the New Year. Despite the FA’s insistence that results aren’t the be-all and end-all, a defeat to Scotland would surely make the Englishman’s position as manager untenable.
Similarly, the Scotland manager needs nothing less than a victory to repair the damage a lamentable start has done. You suspect at least one of the two may soon be reviving a career as a television analyst.
‘That’s the nature of it, isn’t it?’ said Southgate. ‘For all of us as coaches. I don’t know the remit for Gordon. It certainly seemed as if results at the beginning were very good and the players enjoyed playing for him.
‘I’ve got enough to think about without worrying about that, too. He’s managed a huge club in Celtic and he’s played for Scotland, Manchester United and for Leeds when they were really flying.
‘He has huge experience and he seems well-respected. I’ve looked at their last few games, but I don’t know about the two years before that.’
Whatever the transgressions of the past and the imponderables of the future may be, they will most likely be set to one side come Friday.
No one would pretend that the current sides are anything approaching vintage, but it remains a fixture without compare. Who said international football has had its day?
‘I stood pitch-side for the last game at Wembley. It was an incredible atmosphere, probably as good as I’ve seen at the new Wembley,’ added Southgate.
‘It is a truly special fixture. These are the games that, as a player and as a member of staff, that you desperately want to be involved in.
‘Viewing figures will be five times that of a Premier League game. It will capture the imagination. What more could you want?’
Meanwhile, Southgate has called up West Ham left-back Aaron Cresswell and Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford to his squad as replacements for the injured twosome of Danny Drinkwater and Fraser Forster.