The nagging feeling is that Gareth Southgate will become permanent England manager because of the paucity of the list of candidates
On the face of it, nobody should be surprised the Football Association, on the rebound after the brief, unhappy dalliance with Sam Allardyce, was so attracted to the idea of Gareth Southgate from the outset and always thought of him, personality-wise, as a trouble-free appointment.
If Allardyce was a brick through the window of the FA establishment, Southgate was the go-to guy to sweep up the broken glass and put up a nice pair of flowery curtains. He is a neat fit for the parts of the England job that require an ambassadorial presence and, though there are bound to be some people who suspect he may be too gentlemanly in an industry where all the best managers occasionally have to use their elbows, Southgate has been dealing with that since he was 17 at Crystal Palace and his manager, Alan Smith, told him that unless he toughened up he could take his O-levels and try to find alternative employment. Southgate remembers it as the most brutal, yet important, professional advice he ever received but at the time it made his bones vibrate. “I admit if you were my son, I’d be proud of you,” Smith told him. “As a travel agent or an estate agent, you’d be perfect. As a footballer, no fucking chance.”
Southgate went on to captain Palace at the age of 22, win 57 England caps and announced his presence in his first training session with the national team by flying into a 50-50 with Stuart Pearce. True, he is more likely to be listening to Coldplay rather than Stiff Little Fingers, Pearce’s choice of listening, but it does not say a great deal for English football that Southgate is not always considered a natural leader of men because of his politeness, his measured tones and the way he operates with the kind of self-deprecation that is not often found inside the industry bubble.
Southgate’s ability to articulate himself is actually a strength rather than a weakness and, if you think it absolutely necessary to have someone who can lose his temper, then John Stones, for one, can vouch for England’s manager-in-waiting after he experienced exactly that, close-up, at half-time of the victory against Scotland. Stones had been guilty, at least twice, of the moments of carelessness that can occasionally infiltrate his game. Southgate let him know, in no uncertain terms, that his second-half performance had to be better.
It did the trick and it is increasingly obvious, with England enjoying the view from the top of their World Cup qualifying group, that it will not be long before Southgate is converted from caretaker manager to permanent occupant and can start looking ahead to the tournament in Russia in 2018 rather than next year’s European Under-21 Championship.
It does feel, therefore, like I might be straying away from the popular mood to point out it still feels slightly strange that Southgate is now considered the mandatory choice on the back of a plodding win over Malta, a pretty wretched goalless draw in Slovenia and a slightly flattering victory against a Scotland team in an almost permanent state of disrepair.
Scotland, Tommy Docherty used to say, always made it home before the postcards. These days, however, they don’t even get that far. It is 18 years and counting since they reached a major tournament. Their manager, Gordon Strachan, is probably going to lose his job and three-quarters of their defence at Wembley consisted of players from the league once known as England’s Division Two. It is not arrogant to think England should beat a team with those limitations. It is just a case of looking at the respective lineups and understanding that one side features players from Liverpool, Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs against opponents who would usually be turning out for Ipswich Town, Derby County and Hull City.
Perhaps it is just a reflection on England’s position after the ordeal of Euro 2016 and the short, undistinguished Allardyce era, but I would actually place more stock in how Southgate’s team take care of the ball against Spain on Tuesday rather than a slightly deceptive feelgood victory that was not, in truth, as comprehensive as the result suggests.
Equally, there is no use recommending the FA waits until the end of the season to investigate whether somebody with a more impressive CV might be available because, quite simply, there has never been that appetite to look elsewhere. The relevant people were already sold on Southgate and, though it should not be the decisive factor, he could be forgiven for feeling put out in the unlikely event that the FA ask him to extend his current position until next summer. Southgate has already filled the role since the final week of September. Anything longer and this will be the most famous caretaker since Harold Pinter’s.
On that basis, it does feel slightly perplexing that Howard Wilkinson, chairman of the League Managers Association, has been parachuted in to help the FA’s chief executive, Martin Glenn, and the technical director, Dan Ashworth, with the selection process. Is there even a process? Nobody else has been approached or interviewed. Nobody, one assumes, will be now everything feels such a formality. There was a shortlist of one from the start and if the FA, post-Allardyce, feels duty-bound to conduct due diligence they really have nothing to worry about. Southgate has led a squeaky-clean existence bar the time, on his first trip abroad with Palace’s youth team, he was introduced to tequila slammers by some of his more streetwise team‑mates and had to be taken back to the club hotel, where he proceeded to spew up all over Ron Noades, the chairman.
Whether Southgate, now 46, is the man to fix England’s problems is another matter and it is not easy to shift this nagging feeling that he has been elevated to this position only because the list of possible candidates, once again, is so unspectacular. Roy Hodgson was 10th in the Premier League with West Bromwich Albion when he was given his chance. Allardyce had overseen a feat of escapology to help Sunderland out of the Premier League’s relegation places.
Southgate, lest it be forgotten, asked not even to be considered on a temporary basis after Euro 2016, explaining later: “It wasn’t something I think I’ve got the experience for.” England are hardly aiming for the stars and, however impressively Southgate has come across over the last six weeks, it is understandable if there are a few misgivings among the team’s followers when it is only a few years ago that he was applying for jobs at various Championship clubs and, by his own admission, very often not even getting a reply.
All that can be said for certain is that Southgate will have his work cut out when someone with too much time on their hands worked out recently there were more beards in the Premier League than English players and Gary Neville talked about how, in his time at Valencia, if someone made a bad pass during the training-ground rondos it was scoffed at as “pase Inglés” – the English pass.
They still have that specially adapted clock at St George’s Park ticking down to the moment England supposedly win the 2022 World Cup and perhaps, in a quiet moment, Southgate might gently point out how pompous that can make everyone look. My mind goes back to the stand-up routine of Henning Wehn and the reminder from possibly the only German on the English comedy circuit about which nation invented schadenfreude. Wehn has a replica World Cup on stage and is holding it towards his audience, teasing them, inviting them to admire its beauty. Everyone, he says, back in Germany has one. “And this is the closest you will ever get to it.”
Facts on Smalling diminish Mourinho
Does José Mourinho feel even a flicker of embarrassment that Chris Smalling has a broken toe – two breaks, in fact – that will apparently keep him out for up to six weeks at a time when Manchester United’s manager has created the distinct impression he thought the player was skiving?
Mourinho’s thinly disguised criticisms after the game at Swansea City last weekend showed him at his most unappealing and was a risky strategy, to the point of recklessness, given that it was precisely the sort of accusation that can damage the way a group of players see their manager.
Smalling’s x-rays have settled any argument about whether a player who hascaptained both his club and country could be accused of shirking his duties and Luke Shaw deserves an awful lot better, too, given that it is little over a year since his leg was shattered in two places.
To insinuate that Shaw needs to toughen up is to show, at best, a remarkable lack of empathy at a time when United’s medical staff have made it clear to their counterparts at the Football Association that the player’s recovery process still needs handling with extreme care.
The truth is that Shaw, with six months on crutches and four operations, plays through pain in every game. He is used to it by now but the leg still troubles him and, however wearying it can be to compare everything to Sir Alex Ferguson’s day, the thought does occur that there is absolutely no way the former manager would have hung out one of his young players that way.
Mourinho might argue he never mentioned either player by name. Others could say that makes it underhand as well as unfair. Everyone knew who he was digging out and, once again, Mourinho has left the unfortunate impression of someone who appears to have temporarily misplaced the qualities that once made players want to run through a brick wall for him.
Boothroyd may not be best man
Aidy Boothroyd has been filling in as manager of England Under-21s and will presumably be in line to assume the role full-time if Gareth Southgate takes permanent charge of the senior team.
Boothroyd has certainly done well for himself, given that one senior FA employee confided to “numbing shock” when the former Watford, Colchester, Coventry and Northampton manager, renowned for long-ball tactics, was added to the organisation’s payroll.
Yet Boothroyd does have friends in high places. He once worked with Dan Ashworth, the FA’s technical director, at Peterborough. A few years later, he appointed Ashworth to help him run West Brom’s academy. Then, in 2014, it was Ashworth’s turn to do the hiring, bringing him in to manage England Under-20s.
The two are so close Joey Barton once tweeted that Boothroyd was best man at Ashworth’s wedding. It wasn’t true but they are close and, unfortunately for Boothroyd, his progression through the system does slightly jar with the fact that his last club appointment ended with Northampton bottom of League Two.
Past and present Reds are menacing
The league season will resume with Jürgen Klopp, Rafa Benítez and Brendan Rodgers all top of their respective leagues. Spot what they have in common? These are still early days but nobody should discount the idea of a clean sweep by Liverpool managers past and present.
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