SOUTHGATE’S HANDLING OF THIS BUST-UP COULD BE PIVOTAL
THE kit-men wheeled skips through the corridors beneath the empty stands at Wembley on Thursday night. Behind one of the doors, Gareth Southgate sat in front of a semi- circle of reporters, reflecting on England’s 7-0 trouncing of Montenegro.
His team had just graced the country’s 1,000th game with a fine performance and qualified for Euro 2020 in style at the top of Group A, able to look ahead and dream of winning the tournament at Wembley next summer. But the England manager, usually so positive and so upbeat, looked as if he were carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Even when he smiled, it was a wry smile. He thought back to the last Euros that England hosted, his missed penalty and that semi-final defeat by Germany. ‘When we lost in ’ 96,’ he said, ‘ the most heartbreaking thing for me was that Stuart Pearce retired on the bus home and that really sunk in.
‘I thought: “Oh my God, that’s his last chance.” It had been a pretty low evening anyway.’
This should have been a wholly different kind of night; a night for celebration, optimism and anticipation but Southgate’s countenance told a different story. He has played it down as much as he can because he is desperate to move on from it but Raheem Sterling’s scuffle with Joe Gomez at St George’s Park cast a shadow over the week and bled into the Wembley crowd’s booing of Gomez.
It was obvious that the treatment of the Liverpool defender had upset Southgate and tainted the achievements of the night. He and his players have established a close bond and he knew he would have work to do to repair the psychological damage done to a young player who had act ed without any cause f or reproach.
In many ways, it already felt as if it had been a defining week for Southgate’s management of the national team.
On the pitch, smooth qualification for another major tournament meant none of the optimism that surrounded the team after the World Cup has dissipated and England will attack next summer’s Euros as one of the favourites: a team brimming with young, exciting attacking options.
Off the pitch, Southgate had faced the closest thing he has had to a crisis and, even though there has been plenty of discussion about whether he was heavy-handed with Sterling by making the altercation with Gomez public and leaving his best player out of the Montenegro game, the manager emerged from the affair with his authority enhanced.
Confusion still surrounds what happened in the aftermath of the row between Sterling and Gomez. Some reports insist Sterling did not leave St George’s Park. Other sources of information say he was told to leave and only returned several hours later when he said he wanted to apologise.
Whatever the truth, whatever the reservations of football’s old guard who maintain a good bit of brawling between team-mates is good for the soul, Southgate would have looked weak if he had not imposed some sanction on Sterling. As for the idea it could all have been kept secret, there was no chance of that.
It was a serious test of Southgate’s leadership. Sterling is a strong character and an intelligent man, a powerful voice within the squad who many see as a spokesman for his generation. He is also a brilliant forward, a player growing in stature every season and a talent intrinsic to England’s hopes of winning the Euros next summer.
This was not a fringe player Southgate was disciplining. It was his best player.
If he had got it wrong, if he had procrastinated, if he had let things fester amid a media frenzy, the spirit he has created within the squad could have been poisoned.
Instead, his clever, decisive handling of the affair may come to be seen as a pivotal moment in England’s progress.
Southgate’s man-management of the players has been one of his strongest attributes since he took over as England boss three years ago so maybe it should not be a surprise that when he faced his biggest test, he passed it.
He got out ahead of the issue. He did not allow himself to be dictated to by a developing story. Southgate set the tone.
On many occasions in England’s recent past, the tail wagged the dog in moments like this. Not this time. The last time England had a chance of winning major tournaments, under Sven Goran Eriksson, the manager was in thrall to his senior players.
He bowed to reputation. He was dazzled by celebrity. He was compromised. Last week, Southgate showed he was different.
Let’s not be under any illusions about what happened last week, however it has been dressed up. Southgate had an issue with his star player and Southgate dealt with it.
A trial of strength? Maybe. But Southgate didn’t make it look like that. He didn’t humiliate Sterling. There was nothing triumphal about the way he handled things.
He avoided treating Sterling in the way Glenn Hoddle humiliated Teddy Sheringham before the 1998 World Cup when Sheringham had been photographed smoking a cigarette.
He didn’t treat him like a naughty schoolboy. He didn’t make him stand up in front of the press, as Sheringham had to. He left Sterling with his pride intact and he let him have his say, too. He let Sterling prove what a mature individual he has become.
The bottom line, though, was this: there was no doubt about who was calling the shots. Southgate’s the man here. Nobody else. None of the players. The manager’s in charge.
It is funny to think that when South gate took the job, some people worried he would be a soft touch. He has proved to be anything but. Last week was the final confirmation of that.
Sterling deserves some of the credit for the way things evolved, too. If he had been stubborn, the situation could have developed into a stand-off damaging for everybody. Instead, he was smart.
He recognised he was in the wrong and he apologised. He looked strong for doing it, too. It takes guts to do that. It was another sign of his growing maturity.
Sterling also repaid Southgate with his reaction to the booing of Gomez. He did what any manager would want his best player to do. Sterling took responsibility. He did not hide. He said it was his fault. He stood up for Gomez and, in a way, he stood up for Southgate, too.
So England faced a crisis and they dealt with it. They emerged from it stronger than they were before. Something got broken and they repaired it. Southgate met his sternest test head-on and emerged from it with his authority strengthened. He might wear a velvet glove but he is not afraid to clench the hand inside it into a fist.