England’s young players grow up fast in a brave new world
Southgate’s squad embrace World Cup journey in a refreshing change to the siege mentality of the past
So depressing and constrained were relations between the media and the England squad two years ago at Euro 2016 that they would not even tell journalists how their darts competition went. Here in Repino, Gary Cahill strode into the media centre before being interviewed and played a game of darts against a reporter, while Jesse Lingard, Kieran Trippier and Trent Alexander-Arnold made use of a bowling alley in the Cronwell Park Hotel and were happy to be pictured.
Soon after, hesitating for approval from a Football Association press officer, Trippier answered an innocent question about what kind of activities and entertainment had been laid on for players at their base, the ForRestMix hotel across the road in the pine forest on the Gulf of Finland.
Trippier immediately got the nod – the FA is being far more open and mature and the press officer was a little surprised at being asked – and divulged that not only was there the usual games room with its consoles, table tennis and driving machine, but a volleyball court and a full-sized basketball court.
The pattern was followed the next day. Phil Jones stepped up to the oche, as did Jordan Pickford, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek, after lounging on a sofa chatting to reporters off the record, got so engrossed with the 10-pin bowling that the minibus left without him and had to come back later. Then, the day after, it was the turn of Dele Alli, while Nick Pope sat watching television.
This vignette is only a small detail. But it is a big difference. Some things do not change – the FA reinforced the huge screens at the training facility along the coast in Zelenogorsk just three days into arriving for fear that the team was being spied upon – but there is a far more grown-up feel to England’s approach to this World Cup, which is ironic considering they have such a youthful squad.
The culture, though, is far different from the paranoia that infected them in Chantilly, outside Paris, where Roy Hodgson’s squad were based in the town but effectively lived in a gilded cage, fearing the worst, seeing danger where it did not exist and bombing out of the tournament, with Martin Glenn, the FA chief executive, correctly identifying the mental “brittleness” that makes England break at major finals.
Glenn was vilified after admitting he was not a “football expert” but he knows about management, and managing people, and he could see the England set-up was unhealthy. He also knows that one senior member of Hodgson’s staff bluntly told players to tell the media nothing. So, a different strategy was set up.
Things had to change: in terms of the media, but also in terms of atmosphere and approach. It is about trying to create the best possible environment for the players to perform and to de-stress by stressing less.
If Fabian Delph is asked about the impending birth of his child, then let him talk about it. Previously it would have been ruled out as off limits. In Chantilly, Ryan Bertrand was told he did not have to answer when he was asked about Brexit, with the vote taking place that week.
It helps that England are in Russia. There was never any chance of hordes of England fans descending on this area north of St Petersburg. Repino, although pleased to have England here, is unfussed and better known as a weekend haunt for the well-heeled, with its 14 spas, restaurants and sanatoria – and just the 2,400 residents.
There is not even a centre to the village, and although the England players have been told they can wander out of their hotel in their free time, there are not many places to wander apart from a strip of beach, and they are waiting to be given downtime with their families – if they have travelled – in St Petersburg after Monday’s opening game against Tunisia in Volgograd. Until then, it is work and socialising with each other, and also media activities.
Plus – and this is the key for the modern-day footballer – the FA has installed a super-fast, encrypted wi-fi for the players, along with creature comforts, such as photographs chosen in consultation with their families to put up in the bedrooms to greet them on arrival.
Mattresses and pillows the players used at St George’s Park have been shipped out, while blackout blinds have been installed so they can sleep despite there being so little darkness in this area at this time of year.
For meals, there have been themed nights and barbecues, and the players are – unlike under Fabio Capello in South Africa – encouraged to sit where there is a vacant seat, rather than in the same groups, and to congregate around a cinema-style screen on which the World Cup matches are being shown.
There are board games, card games – Uno is a favourite – and the video game Fortnite is a theme. Key personnel have been “embedded” with the team, from chefs and masseurs to video analysts and psychologists.
Gareth Southgate sets the tone, though it has been disappointing that, from a media point of view, he has not spoken to us at all this week and will only do so in Volgograd today. But he has exuded a far more relaxed, thoughtful approach than his predecessors.
Long may it last. Southgate and the FA are determined that will continue come what may at this World Cup, and beyond, as they are playing the longer game. Time will soon tell. But, before a ball is kicked, this has been a very good, and very different, start.