Ruthless Gareth Southgate times his moment right to shed layers of loyalty

Farewell, then, and thanks for all the almost-but-not-quites. From a rational point of view there shouldn’t be much to say about Gareth Southgate’s decision not to include Marcus Rashford or Jordan Henderson in his plans for Euro 2024.

On the other hand, well, this is England, old bean. And being rational has never really had much to do with it. More than ever in the age of tribal celebrity and online Southgate-truthers, every call and every cut must be unpacked for its wider significance, even when this adds up to little more than rationalising two entirely sensible decisions.

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Of the two Henderson’s absence is more significant on purely sporting merits. It seems likely this means the end of his 14-year six-tournament England career, and as such Henderson deserves some kind of valediction, a party bag, a farewell salute.

Rashford has every chance of coming again, ideally after a season when he scores more than seven league goals. But he is also a one-man industry, a cultural object, a daily online rage magnet. For these reasons, plus the simple fact of having been picked a lot in the past, he will be portrayed as the more significant omission.

Otherwise, for anyone who just wants Southgate to make the right calls at this late stage, the main feeling will be one of relief. Picking either player would have been an error from a football perspective. As far as outside noise goes, it would have been a disaster, fuel to every hostile critic and a source of crowing validation for the sceptical periphery, even if those critics are essentially critiquing what they wish to see, as opposed to the cold reality.

Henderson first then. This is a significant cut, if only because of things that now lie in the past. Henderson won 53 of his 81 caps under Southgate. He has been vice-captain, played in a final and a semi, and has been a key part of the Gareth-era shedding of the old cloak of never-ending fear.

This has been a fine England career, all the more so as a function of will rather than outrageous technical gifts. Henderson was never really a defensive midfielder, never really an attacker, more an all-round central run-hard man, good at surging in straight lines, a good long passer with his right foot. At times watching him play against the stronger teams was like watching someone doing shuttle sprints at the local rec while a football match goes on nearby. You half-expect to look down and notice he’s wearing a bin liner under his shirt and listening to inspirational podcasts.

Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson, Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale, James Trafford.

Defenders: Jarrad Branthwaite, Lewis Dunk, Joe Gomez, Marc Guéhi, Ezri Konsa, Harry Maguire, Jarell Quansah, Luke Shaw, John Stones, Kieran Trippier, Kyle Walker.

Midfielders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Gallagher, Curtis Jones, Kobbie Mainoo, Declan Rice, Adam Wharton.

Forwards: Jude Bellingham, Jarrod Bowen, Eberechi Eze, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Anthony Gordon, Harry Kane, James Maddison, Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney, Ollie Watkins.

This is praise, not criticism. Henderson is an overachiever, a winning personality. But he has also been there for every big defeat, bypassed even at his peak by better midfielders, from Luka Modric to Frenkie de Jong. This year he has played 12 games for Ajax, three of which Ajax won. The decision to take the money from/embark on a heroic moral redemption of Saudi Arabia [delete according to level of delusion] was reversed. But it was still a badly timed decision. Time for someone else to have a go.

As for Rashford, again he just doesn’t deserve to be in the squad. He has 57 caps under Southgate and has been given a genuine run. But England have real talent in his position. Nine players in this group have scored more goals than him this season. His dropping has already been described as brutal, but he hasn’t always been a starter. His England career has instead been composed of moments, lacking in any real shape.

And this is the wider thing with Rashford. He has been brutalised to some degree by his own environment. It is Rashford’s misfortune to play for two entities, Manchester United and England, whose dominant note is wistful decline combined with unshakeable entitlement, institutions that can never understand why winning isn’t just the default option.

Rashford is very good but not quite elite. He’s very, very good at times, but unable to sustain that in the way real A-listers do. He’s not Cristiano Ronaldo. He’s a seven out of 10. And that’s fine. Except, here it’s not. Not when from first appearances he has been styled as a redemptive next big thing, a megastar manqué, if only because his club and country demand such things.

An entire career has been played out against that pressure to fix something, to re-embody the glorious past. Early elevation plus obvious talent fed this hunger. Rashford was treated like a prodigy. The youngest England player at a European Championship. The fewest club appearances ever before making an England debut. His most notable achievements since are to nudge the government into reluctantly helping children and to be exceptionally famous.

Again this isn’t his fault. If he was born Paraguayan Rashford could simply play for Newcastle and be pretty good. Instead he is micro-analysed, pilloried for not being better than he is, and chafed constantly by what is essentially a category mistake. Who knows, a summer of rest may be what he needs. Rashford’s career has been played out in this glow, never really allowed to find its own shape. Perhaps he just needs to make a new story for himself.

The only other thing worth saying about this relates to Southgate himself, and to the question of ruthlessness. Dropping two players with 141 caps between them is no small thing whatever the logic. There is a wider misconception that Southgate is afraid to make tough choices, that he runs a cosy club, is guilty of that most dread sin: “loyalty”.

This isn’t really right. Southgate got rid of Wayne Rooney straight away, and more recently dispensed with Raheem Sterling. He reshaped the emotional landscape with ruthless efficiency. He ruthlessly stuck by his players. He ruthlessly stood up for his principles.

Being powerful and bold is not always about rolling up your sleeves, and making a show of just, like, how powerful and bold you are. Southgate may look like the inventor of an inspirational new cordless vacuum cleaner. But he is also the steeliest and most single-minded of England managers.

Either way, England won’t win or lose the Euros on of these two calls (they will instead win or lose on how well they manage the absence of a genuinely high-grade second central midfielder). But while loyalty has always been a welcome strength, so too is dispensing with it, as here, at just the right moment.