England’s Southgate speaks of ‘pride’ on eve of Euro 2020

Gareth Southgate (Illustration by Reynold/Gulf Times)

England manager Gareth Southgate has spoken of how his grandfather’s service in World War II shaped his own identity and values, expressing his pride in representing his country on the eve of Euro 2020. Southgate’s side launch their campaign against Croatia at Wembley on Sunday, with the manager aiming to build on their run to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018. All three of England’s group matches are at home and Wembley is hosting some of the knockout matches at the delayed tournament, including both semi-finals and the final. Former England international Southgate, writing in the Players’ Tribune, said different people had different ideas of what it “means to be English”. “For me, personally, my sense of identity and values is closely tied to my family and particularly my granddad,” he wrote. “He was a fierce patriot and a proud military man, who served during World War II. The idea of representing ‘queen and country’ has always been important to me. We do pageantry so well in Britain, and, growing up, things like the queen’s Silver Jubilee (in 1977) and royal weddings had an impact on me.” Southgate, early in his tenure as England boss, took his players to train with the Royal Marines. “Because of my granddad, I’ve always had an affinity for the military and service in the name of your country — though the consequence of my failure in representing England will never be as high as his,” he said. “My granddad’s values were instilled in me from a young age and I couldn’t help but think of him when I lined up to sing the national anthem before my first international caps. My belief is that everyone has that pride. And that includes the players.” Southgate, who missed a penalty in England’s semi-final shootout defeat by Germany at Euro 96 on home soil, also spoke of how he felt “parental instincts” kick in as manager. “I can’t help it,” he said. “After all, I’m old enough to be a father to most of my players. I see players scrolling on their phones straight after the final whistle and I think... hmmm, is that a particularly good idea? Reading abusive comments on Twitter or Instagram is never going to help performance.” The England boss said he understood the coronavirus pandemic had “put added pressure on everyone” but did not understand abusive messages. A number of players in his Euro 2020 squad including Marcus Rashford and Raheem Sterling have suffered racist abuse online. “Why would you tag someone in on a conversation that is abusive?” said Southgate. “Why would you choose to insult somebody for something as ridiculous as the colour of their skin? Why? Unfortunately, for those people that engage in that kind of behaviour, I have some bad news — you’re on the losing side.”Grealish sought Southgate advice to make the grade with EnglandJack Grealish believes a heart-to-heart with Southgate at the start of the season was the inspiration he needed to seal a place in the Three Lions’ squad for Euro 2020. The Aston Villa captain has shone in the Premier League this season, sparking rumours he could be set for a big money move to champions Manchester City. Southgate had initially appeared reticent to calling up Grealish, delaying his international debut until September. But the 25-year-old revealed he had an hour-long meeting with the England boss during that first camp to explain how to take his game to the next level. “He’s the manager of England so he’s obviously going to be a brilliant coach. He’s helped my game massively,” Grealish said. “At the start of the season I said to him ‘what can I improve’. I’m not going to go into too much detail as what we spoke about, but he gave me a few things to work on to try and force my way into the team. I think it’s worked, because obviously I’ve had seven (England) games since.” Grealish faces stiff competition to earn a place in Southgate’s side for the Group D opener against Croatia on Sunday. Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho are also battling for two places alongside Harry Kane in attack. But it is Kane who Grealish said he has sought the advice of most since joining up with the squad. The England captain claimed the Premier League Golden Boot and provided the most assists in the English top-flight this season despite Tottenham finishing seventh. “I’s good when you come away with England to get different opinions from people and see what they do and don’t do,” added Grealish. “There’s no better person to look at than Harry Kane and see how he looks after himself and stuff like that.”