MY England MISSION
I know we can prove this summer that our kids are as good as anywhere in Europe, says Gareth Southgate... and a trophy will give him the edge in race to succeed Roy Hodgson
GARETH SOUTHGATE is aware he may not look or sound tough enough for those who think swearing, snarling and punching walls is a prerequisite for success in the macho world of professional football.
It is something he has put up with for nearly three decades. Even as a 15-year-old at Crystal Palace he was told he was too nice ever to make the first team. ‘I have had to knock those barriers down from the start,’ he says. ‘Palace was a bear pit really. It doesn’t mean you don’t say hello to the tea lady.’
Fighting against perception, Southgate captained three Premier League clubs and won 57 caps for England as a player. Still polite and well-mannered, he is now in charge of the brightest young stars in the country. And if his England Under-21s win the European Championship in June for the first time since 1984, Southgate will be a genuine contender to succeed Roy Hodgson in the top job. So much for southern softies.
Our interview takes place in his smart but windowless office at England’s state-of-the-art training facility at St George’s Park. Appropriately enough, it also happens to be on St George’s Day. Southgate’s full title as head of national teams gives him overall responsibility for everything from the Under-21s downwards. The idea is to unify a playing style with the long-term intention of winning the World Cup. The FA call it the nation’s DNA.
He will not cause a diplomatic incident like Brian Clough or switch on a Fergie hairdryer but Southgate can point to plenty of experience to help him make big decisions. He survived being branded a national disgrace for missing a penalty at Euro 96 and, as the then manager, he had to make friends redundant when Middlesbrough were relegated from the Premier League.
WITH the England Under-21s, big names such as Wilfried Zaha and Ravel Morrison, who squabbled in training, and Connor Wickham have unfussily but ruthlessly been axed from the squad.
‘You start out as a coach treating people as you liked to be treated,’ he says. ‘But with experience, you understand people need different approaches and respond accordingly. Your decisions affect the whole group. If you indulge one player, there is a knock-on for everyone else.
‘Business is business, we are trying to help England become champions. As leader of the group, there are some tough calls to make and we have to make sure we get it right.’
Southgate views this summer’s finals as significant on a number of levels. If the likes of Harry Kane, John Stones, Danny Ings and Jack Butland come home with a trophy, he believes it will help convince more Premier League clubs that English players are good enough for them.
‘There is a lot of evidence of players being signed from abroad at young ages that are no better than ours,’ says Southgate. ‘But at 14 or 15 they are sometimes cheaper or free.
‘I think all clubs deep down want what is happening at Tottenham, where you’ve got 30,000 people singing, “He’s one of our own”, about Harry Kane. It’s really powerful for engagement with the fans.
‘What I hope we’ll do in the Czech Republic is give people belief in youth development in this country because it is often knocked. I think we are show- ing people the national team can play in a certain way, but people will always question it until you win things.’
The number of English players in Chelsea’s FA Youth Cup final side suggests the tide might be turning. Yesterday, Southgate went to check on their England Under-20 midfielder John Swift, who is on loan at Swindon Town and tipped for good things.
Inevitably, this summer will also impact on Southgate’s chances of being offered the England manager’s job in the future. Win it and he will be viewed as Hodgson’s natural successor, crash out early, as Stuart Pearce did two years ago, and he will be written off. The 44-year-old accepts the polarisation, whether it is fair or not.
‘It will obviously have an influence because that’s the modern world. That’s why [political] leadership debates are on television now because image and perception has a big impact on decisions,’ he says. ‘It is the way the world works. I know the landscape but I don’t lose sleep over it. When I was at Middlesbrough, people were saying, “Oh, he’s the future England manager”. I read it a couple of times and thought, very good. Then, bang! [Southgate was sacked in 2009 with the club fourth in the Championship.]’
It will not stop him putting pressure on the players, though. ‘We are going there to win and anything less, from an internal perspective from the players and staff, we will come home disappointed,’ he says.
‘We have a habit of telling kids how good they are and really building them up, where I think we have to keep challenging them. There is enough sugar, we have got to keep driving them, there is always somebody better, always another level to get to.
DI remember Roy Keane sitting next to me at ITV and going off on one because a player said in an interview they had nothing to prove. He said “****ing hell”, you always have something to prove”. And he’s right.’ EALING with young players has its own challenges on and off the field. There have been assorted headlines recently about players being photographed smoking shisha pipes or inhaling laughing gas. Southgate’s striker Saido Berahino admitted a drink-driving charge in January and is serving a 12-month driving ban.
A number of his players, including Ings, Nathaniel Chalobah, Nathan Redmond and Berahino, are sure to be linked with transfer gossip before the next transfer window opens. Southgate likes to think of himself as approachable if any player seeks guidance, but adds: ‘I have to be careful, I don’t think it is our role national coaches to tell players they need to be leaving clubs.
‘However, I would always be open to say if you are going to move, do it to play. Don’t move for money because the money will come. In the modern game, they are going to earn more money than they could ever have dreamed of. So you’ve got to make a decision based on what is right for your career really.’
Southgate likes to give players responsibility. He was pleased to see Redmond lead a team huddle off his own initiative before a recent warmup win against Germany. He feels he has a number of leaders in his dressing room — goalkeeper and captain Jack Butland, Tom Carroll, James Ward-Prowse and Kane among them
‘I really think the ownership [of responsibility] thing is big,’ he says.
‘We want players to go out in front of 80,000 people and make the right decisions, how can we ask that if we’re constantly saying off the pitch, “You’ve got to be here, you’ve got to do that”?’
While emphasising the group, it is inevitable that Kane will receive most attention, given he has come from nowhere to score more than 30 goals and win a nomination for Footballer of the Year. Southgate is confident the Spurs striker will be on the plane to the Czech Republic even if his club’s post-season tour to Australia means he will arrive late to the training camp which is due to begin on June 2.
Alan Shearer has said Kane’s game resembles his own, an observation that amused Southgate.
‘I love that Alan thinks being compared to him obviously makes Harry a really good player!’ says his former international team-mate with a laugh.
‘That tells us a bit about Alan, which I will have to rib him about when I see him. I do see some qualities Harry shares with Alan; his ability to strike the ball so well with either foot and the mobility that Alan had before he did his cruciate.
‘I went to Tottenham’s game at Newcastle last Sunday. Harry had five efforts on goal, all from different positions, all on target; two with his left foot, three with his right. And in the end he gets a goal by running from the halfway line.
‘But let’s say Harry wasn’t available because something went wrong, I have total faith in Ingsy and Saido causing problems for defenders.’
By that, Southgate means injury rather than envisaging the player pulling out with fatigue after his long season. ‘I am, as a matter of course, going to Tottenham to discuss our programme and what it looks like, because it is still going to be important for Harry that he has some period of rest,’ he says. ‘Again, the key to everything is the player. My belief is the player wants to be part of what we are doing, he has been very constant on that. I don’t think that will be an issue.’
My belief is that Kane wants to be part of what we are doing