Gareth Southgate calls for English football to 'get its own house in order' over racism before pointing fingers

Gareth Southgate has called on English football to “get its own house in order” on racism before pointing the finger at Russia. England’s preparations for the World Cup have been overshadowed by the bubbling geopolitical tensions between Russia and the UK, and a growing body of domestic opinion calling on the side to boycott this summer’s tournament.

But ahead of England’s friendly against the Netherlands in Amsterdam, Southgate warned that turning the spotlight on Russian racism risked masking problems closer to home, drawing particular attention to comments made by England fans on social media about the country’s youth teams.

“In terms of anything that happens on the field, there are clear Fifa guidelines for how you have to report incidents,” Southgate said. “But I don’t think we should just talk about racism in Russia. There are still things going on in our own country that aren’t correct. So we keep pointing the finger at Russia, where we’re going to be guests in the next few months. But we haven’t resolved the issue in our own country, and until we do we should stop firing off elsewhere.

“I can give you an example. I had a really interesting couple of hours with Troy Townsend [father of Andros and a Kick It Out campaigner] a couple of weeks ago. He showed us a picture of our under-17s on social media. The comments about that team were disgusting. So when we speak about other countries, I find it difficult to defend that with what we’ve seen here.”

The comments in question were made in reference to an England under-16 team that had just beaten Brazil in the Florida Cup, a picture of which was posted on Steven Gerrard’s Instagram feed. Among the comments were: “monkeys”, “looks like an African country” and “Did England just become black?”.

“To see them abused in that way is absolutely disgusting,” Southgate said.

Southgate admitted that current Russia-UK relations had the potential to contribute to a hostile atmosphere for his side this summer, and brushed off comments made by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson comparing this summer’s World Cup to the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany.

“It’s of little interest to me what the Foreign Secretary thinks about it,” Southgate said wrily. “I don’t think we’re going to be the most popular [team in Russia], the way things are going at the moment. But maybe that can be extra motivation for us.

“It's not an issue for me. We will go and embrace the local community in the area we stay. Our approach won't change in that respect. We would hope to be good ambassadors for our country when we travel abroad. That's a big part of being an England player. That won't change, whatever the political circumstance.”

On the field, Jack Wilshere has not travelled to the Netherlands after a recurrence of his knee injury, leaving his World Cup hopes in the balance. Jordan Henderson will captain the side at the Johan Cruyff Arena, with Jordan Pickford starting in goal, as Southgate gives his clearest indication yet that the Everton player is his first-choice No 1 on current form.

“He’s known a few days before everyone else,” Southgate said. “I know who the keeper would be if we played tomorrow, but it’s a very tight call.”