Gareth, the man who changed our world
Gareth Southgate Lewis Hamilton Tracey Neville Tyson Fury Dina Asher-Smith Gareth Southgate Helen Housby Lewis Hamilton Lizzy Yarnold Geraint Thomas
FOR more than half a century now, those of us who followed hard on the heels of the Baby Boomers and took anything more than a passing interest in sport have measured out our lives in the failures of the England football team at major tournaments.
More than that, we have felt the distance grow between the public and the team. The cumulative effect of all the disappointments and the rise and rise of club football shrouded the national side in a cloak made from the threads of disillusion and detachment.
Partly to protect ourselves, we had begun to say we did not care any more. Fans in their droves said they had given up on England. And sometimes, the impression was that some of the players had, too. It felt as if they had prioritised the voracious demands of club football and well, really, who could blame them.
They, like us, were stuck in a cycle of negativity, dreading the bad publicity t hat came with playing for their country and the avalanche of criticism and vilification that came with every tournament exit. For many players, playing for England came to be associated with fear.
In 2018, Gareth South gate changed that. He changed pretty much all of it. He changed a raft of attitudes that we thought were beyond change. He turned an institution of which we had grown embarrassed into something we could be proud of again. I know there is a category for Coach of the Year at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards but that does not change my opinion Southgate deserves the top honour.
It was not just the fact the England manager led his side to the semifinals of the World Cup, the best performance of the team at the sport’s most prestigious tournament for 28 years, and laid another ghost by winning a penalty shootout (against Colombia) along the way.
Nor was it just that Southgate refused to be content with that achievement and built on it as the year progressed. In the autumn, wins over Spain ( in Spain) and Croatia, the team that had beaten England in t hat semi- fi nal in Moscow, kept up the momentum. As the year comes to a close, it still feels as if this is a team on the rise.
Southgate’s achievement this year was about more than that. He changed the whole ethos around the side. He empowered the players and took away the fear of playing for the national team. He encouraged the players to tell their stories. He helped them to reconnect with the public.
He began to erode some of the suspicion that existed between the players and the media. Before the World Cup, he allowed the FA to organise a media day where every member of the England squad stood at lecterns in a sports hall and answered questions for an hour. That was a giant leap forward in media-player relations.
The team have an identity on the pitch now, too. This is another area where Southgate has achieved something that was hitherto believed impossible. England are actually starting to look comfortable in possession. England play the ball out from the back. Southgate picks players — and leaves players out — with their technical ability in mind.
He has not been afraid to trust youth and he has been rewarded for it. Reaching the World Cup semi-finals does not feel like a highpoint. It feels like a starting point. Southgate has created the conditions for young players to flourish. Jadon Sancho, James Maddison, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Marcus Rashford, Mason Mount and Joe Gomez all have the kind of talent that suggests England’s future is going to be bright.
It is not just down to Southgate. Many people deserve credit. But it is Southgate who has drawn it all together. It is Southgate who had made playing for England feel like fun again. It is Southgate who has made watching England feel like fun again.