Manager’s home security raised after wife’s concerns

GARETH SOUTHGATE has increased security at his home after his wife expressed concern that picures of the property had been circulated online.

The England football manager, who lives in a £3.25million mansion in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, with his wife, Alison, and two children, spoke after Raheem Sterling had to fly back to England following a burglary at his home.

England players have reacted to the burglary by putting their own home security guards on 24-hour alert.

Describing how he fully backed Sterling’s decision to leave England’s World Cup camp in Qatar, Southgate said: “I could relate to it because I’ve had to put extra security at home because pictures of my house have been published through this tournament … my wife was concerned about that. None of that is helpful. These are the spin-offs you have when involved with England.” Sterling has returned to Qatar but his five-day absence ended any chance that he would be in Southgate’s starting team for today’s World Cup quarterfinal against France. However, the 28-year-old has received full support from his manager and team-mates.

“You know as a manager if a player is not in the right space to play in the game and needs that time,” said Southgate. “I had it with (Fabian) Delph in Russia ... because his wife was giving birth.

“You want them really around for the game but if they have other things going on in their life that are difficult to be dealing with … any modern workplace has got to understand those things.”

Southgate would not comment on the “personal reasons” given for why defender Ben White left the squad, saying he refused to lend credibility to speculation over a disagreement with Steve Holland, his assistant.