Gareth Southgate’s list of achievements during his eight years as England head coach includes, but is not restricted to, the following.
He led the national team to its first major final in 55 years and its first World Cup semifinal in 28. And it is also widely accepted that he improved the previously toxic culture around the national team.
You might think this matters or not, but he printed out the words to the national anthem and has asked his players to sing it loudly and proudly, and passionately urged supporters to end their nasty habit of booing the opposition’s anthem.
This week, he steered England to the top of its group for the third major tournament in a row, upon which he was showered with a chorus of boos and had a handful of beer cups thrown in his direction when he walked over to thank fans in Cologne on Tuesday.
Although he claims to mute his ears and avoid all media during tournaments, a stream of irate vitriol is being directed toward him from back home. Basically, after England narrowly beat Serbia, drew with Denmark and Slovenia, and didn’t look very good in any of them, Southgate can do no right in the eyes of the English public.
The country that invented modern soccer, expecting so much from these Euros because of having a squad laden with stars like Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka, is taking it personally. There is frustration and there is no shortage of anger.
And it is going too far.
It is one thing to dislike tactics and to be disappointed by performances. It is OK for fans to think they know better. But the cup-throwing incident, even though such things always grab the headlines yet are usually caused by an idiotic minority, was over the top.
So, too, is some of the noise. Former players seem to be dueling with each other to ramp up ever-shriller levels of criticism.
It wasn’t received well when, after the Slovenia game, Southgate dared to allude to the response from the traveling fans being reminiscent of a darker time. A few plastic cups isn’t mass hooliganism, which was the scourge of the England team for too long, but Southgate was talking more about the era just before him, when negativity reigned.
“We’ve made England over the last six or seven years fun again,” Southgate told reporters. “I think it has been enjoyable for the players. We’ve got to be very, very careful that it stays that way.”
When he came in, Southgate tried hard to change the cycle of culture where the players didn’t like playing for England because they felt that the public hostility and the fans didn’t much like the players because they felt like they didn’t care.
They do now, even if the system hasn’t worked fluidly in this tournament. Foden flew home with permission to attend the birth of his third child, then flew right back again so he could prepare for Sunday’s clash with Slovakia in the round of 16 (Sunday, noon ET on FOX).
Defender Marc Guehi insisted the players were firmly behind Southgate.
“He has been fantastic for England,” Guehi said. “If you look at his record, it speaks for itself. Everyone is behind the manager, and we have a really close, tight-knit group that is just focused on the next (round).
“Everyone appreciates him, especially me. He gave me my debut for England, and he’s showed so much confidence in me. I am really grateful, and I’m sure the rest of the team is as well.”
Southgate knows what comes with the territory of playing for England. In 1996, he missed the decisive penalty kick in a semifinal shootout with eventual champion Germany at Wembley Stadium.
After that miss, a newspaper reporter doorstepped his mother, whose response — “why didn’t you just belt it, son” — was more amusing than it was helpful. From there, Southgate went on vacation to Bali with his wife and thought he’d found a spot where no one would recognize him, until a Buddhist monk ambled over and asked him about, you guessed, that penalty.
It was a strange time, the mid-90s, when England fell in love with soccer again, but didn’t handle defeat with any kind of real grace. Two years later, when David Beckham was sent off in the World Cup against Argentina, an effigy of him was strung up outside a South London pub.
Things had already gotten better by the time Southgate took over in 2016, but he helped things along further by cultivating a more pleasant playing environment for his squad and by coming across as likeable and calm himself. But decades of hurt overrides such warm feelings.
Going so close against Italy, then losing on penalties in the Euro 2020 final ripped open old scars and created new ones. Unless Southgate can deliver a trophy, he will, unfairly, be seen as the problem.
Either way, his contract is up in December, and although he has stayed tight-lipped on the matter, seems likely to leave after the tournament.
It pays him more than $6 million a year, the highest of all coaches at Euro 2024. Worth it, for being in the crosshairs of a nation, your every move questioned?
Don’t be so sure.
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