Quiet charisma and decency mark out Southgate from crowd
Manager challenged the norms and took his place in history, Jeremy Wilson writes from Moscow
As Gareth Southgate lingered under the bright lights of the Luzhniki Stadium late last night and absorbed a very different sort of pain following another major semi-final defeat with England, it was again his basic decency that shone through.
He looked across for Zlatko Dalic to offer his congratulations and, while the Croatia manager was rather more preoccupied with celebrating the greatest night in his nation’s football history, Southgate instead made his way over to thank the officials.
And next the crestfallen England players, some of whom were shedding the same tears he experienced at this stage of Euro 96, and then also the fans.
It took some 15 minutes and yet Southgate had still not forgotten the Croatians. One by one, they also received a good, firm handshake. People often ask football journalists what some manager or other is like. And they are conditioned to expect someone out of the ordinary. Noise, charisma, humour, iron discipline and that intangible thing that we call “an aura”.
And yet here was the thing last night about watching Southgate up close. For the vast majority of the match, you hardly knew that he was there. Southgate did gather his players for final instructions before extra-time but, even then, he had preferred largely to mingle calmly and issue individual instructions rather than engage in some great rallying cry. Through a good first half, he was among the least outwardly animated people in Moscow. Dalic, by contrast, was perpetual motion on the touchline.
It must have been quite lonely. Even when England took their fifth-minute lead, he could have been forgiven for wondering whether Southgate had arrived. Up leapt the England substitutes and most of the staff before pouring on to the pitch in ecstatic celebration. Southgate barely moved.
It was similar when John Stones almost scored England’s opening goal of the tournament against Tunisia and Southgate simply turned to trusted assistant Steve Holland and said: “Oh, where’s Harry,” in apparent surprise that his striker had not finished the chance more quickly.
If we are being picky, an earlier substitution might have prevented Croatia taking control of the game. Southgate was passive, though, purely out of tactical choice. You could never mistake his low profile with any lack of personality, passion or desire. If there was ever a football manager who became an overnight hero after decades of diligent unseen work, it is him.
The journalist Ian Herbert wrote a recent biography of the former Liverpool manager Bob Paisley and, in Quiet Genius, he referred to the leadership research of Susan Cain. Her argument is that Western culture undervalues the traits and potential of more introverted people. We then tend to reward, admire or misguidedly assume that the outwardly loud and bullish are most capable. The opposite, she says, is often true. Why? Because of the benefit of someone who listens and so then learns, of someone who analyses and is prepared to self-critically challenge themselves in the search for ongoing improvement. Hard work is usually done with little fuss. Speaking to staff at the Football Association, it is interesting to hear how Southgate has embraced international management day-to-day at his office at the National Football Centre in Burton differently from his predecessors. He does not so much manage a team as lead an entire organisation.
That is what English football so obviously now needs in implementing a sustained plan, right down to grass roots, to address a situation whereby Croatia, with its population half the size of London, can produce technically better midfielders. The alpha-male is, of course, a dominant feature of football dugouts but, like Paisley and Sir Alf Ramsey also, Southgate has demonstrated the value in another way. The crucial caveat is a willingness still to take difficult decisions and, to see Southgate show such a ruthless streak in some of his selection choices, has been a pleasant surprise of his tenure. Russia 2018 has reinforced his place in the history of English football. Beyond that and, as well as the sartorial influence, there is an entire leadership style that is now in itself challenging past norms.