Gareth Southgate keeps on changing England for the better after testing night in Montenegro

The young man from the Montenegrin FA offered his assessment of the game as he led the media around the pitch for the post-match press conference following England’s 5-1 victory in Podgorica. “Ah, England – tiki-taka,” he said in admiration.

The brand of football being played by England is not akin to Spain’s possession-based approach but there is an awesomeness to it all the same. Spain won the Euros, twice, and the World Cup with that Xavi and Andres Iniesta-led generation and England are emphatically on the right track to achieve incredible things on the pitch.

And off it. This team, this squad, this generation and this emerging youth that is augmenting it so wonderfully, developing it and taking it forward is a beacon of hope for England. They are so much more than a football team and as Gareth Southgate said of Raheem Sterling the difference is being made in a “societal sense” as well as a sporting one. It is that important.

And with Southgate, they are being led by a very good manager and a very, very good man. England – a country and not just a football team – are fortunate to have him. There is no-one better for the job.

First the racism. Southgate addressed it head on and clearly, politely also rightly pointing out that England needs to get its own house in order as well as condemning what was directed at his players by the Montenegrin fans.

Southgate was also asked whether he should have considered leading the players off the pitch and his response was instructive of a man with such overwhelming decency.

“You have asked me a question about should I have taken the team off and should I have done more,” Southgate said, clearly upset with the father and husband in him coming out as well as the manager of young men and a nation’s hopes.

“So understandably I want to go and reflect on whether I should have handled everything differently. Because the last thing I would want is to feel I have let the players down or missed an opportunity to highlight the subject… I am in a position where I can make a difference and, generally speaking, I have been able to do that.”

He has. And no-one can accuse of him letting anyone down. No-one. Southgate has made a significant difference and he is acutely aware of his position, what it means and the change he can effect.

It is hard to recall an England manager who has had such a transformative effect or one who has been so brave and bold in his approach and willingness to continue to be brave and bold.

Southgate would not welcome the praise but he has influenced everything about this England team who are, under his watch, not just regarded as a more formidable proposition by the rest of the world but are actually liked. Perceptions, atmospheres, moods - they can all be changed. As can results.

The key has been Southgate’s determination to keep moving, keep evolving, keep progressing. He built a bridge-head, and more, with last summer’s World Cup by getting through the group, winning a penalty shoot-out, winning a knock-out tie and reaching the semi-finals.

But his greatest achievement was re-connecting the players with the fans and calmly demolishing the notion that there is fear when it comes to England, that the shirt weighs heavy – and that it would never change. What is the worst that can happen? It is the question he asked and answered himself by saying – well, it has already happened.

England had hit rock-bottom before him and so the only way was up even if that was easier said than done. Southgate told the players to go out and express themselves on and off the pitch, to own the occasion and share their stories and enjoy this. To have no regrets.

That was the emotion and the psychology which ran in tandem with a deliberate overhaul of the squad, a deliberate desire to promote youth and recognise that even if Callum Hudson-Odoi had not started a Premier League game for Chelsea he, at 18, could do so for England because he has the talent and he has the belief.

Southgate came out of the World Cup also knowing he had to change formation and the importance of that cannot be underestimated. A 3-5-2 line-up is essentially defensive; a 4-3-3 is fundamentally offensive.

Jadon Sancho become another symbol – a teenager willing to take control of his own destiny, to go abroad and back himself to succeed in Germany because he wanted to play. Southgate embraced that and wanted to show other young players that there were other ways. Sancho was promoted to the senior squad and he played. He earned that right by making it happen.

The beauty is that under Southgate this will not stop and there is just so much to love about the team he has created and the players in it – their diversity, their confidence, camaraderie and the joy and assuredness they have brought to England from the impressive captain Harry Kane to the newest arrivals in Hudson-Odoi and Declan Rice.

The racism is horrific and deplorable and it is a problem in Britain as well as the Balkans. It was, as Southgate said, a sad night in Montenegro but it is not naïve to also say there was power in his response, in England’s response. They ended up owning what happened, or the reaction to it, just as Sterling pulled at his ear after scoring the fifth goal. In a sense, it was empowering and empowerment is what Southgate’s England is all about.