Southgate accepts negative reaction to England is ‘probably because of me’

Gareth Southgate has pleaded with the nation to support his England players at Euro 2024 – even the fans who want him out. The manager endured a long night of the soul after Tuesday’s 0-0 draw against Slovenia, a performance disfigured by the lack of thrust and ingenuity in front of goal. The result did, however, carry the team through to the last 16 as Group C winners where they will face Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday.

Southgate lamented the atmosphere that is pressing down on the squad after three largely uninspired displays in Germany and is aware that he could be the problem. “Our world is different [to other teams] at the moment and I feel that is probably because of me,” he said.

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When Southgate went on to the pitch in Cologne to applaud the England fans, he was met by loud jeers. It recalled the hostility he encountered at Molineux in June 2022 when he did the same thing after the 4-0 Nations League loss to Hungary. It led Southgate to consider resigning after the World Cup in the winter of that year and announcing his intention to do so before the tournament; he would be talked out of it but, as now, was worried about the negativity towards him affecting the players.

Southgate, who is out of contract in December, has suggested at various points during the past 12 months that there may only be the climate for him to continue for the 2026 World Cup if he oversaw victory at the European Championship. The biggest single factor in that climate is likely to be the mood of the fans. They booed the team off at half-time and full time against Slovenia but were incredibly supportive in between.

“The fans were absolutely brilliant with the team in the second half,” Southgate said. “That’s so important. Whatever the feeling is towards me, you’ve got to get behind the team. Players have loved playing for England the last six or seven years. We have to keep that. If we don’t then … yeah. I understand the feeling towards me but back the players. It’s crucial the fans back the players as they did in the second half.”

The manager was asked how he felt about the doubts over his suitability to lead the team, given he has reached a semi-final, a final and a quarter-final in his three previous tournaments. “I’m not going to change that so it’s pointless me spending energy,” Southgate said. “But I’m also not going to back away from it. My job is to guide the players through it. Would I rather the criticism is directed at me? 100%. That is my job. I have to keep the players on track. I don’t have any regrets. But we need everybody behind the team.”

At Molineux, Southgate was subjected to chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing” and “You’re getting sacked in the morning”. Before the game, he had promised not to overstay his welcome in the job and the focus is again on Southgate’s future, together with many other things. The way he talked about the “unique” environment around the England setup, it did not sound as though it was one in which he would be desperate to continue.

Southgate is not blind to the reality that his team has to play better. But he did draw the comparison with how other nations had celebrated key results. “On the day of the Slovenia game I showed the players pictures of Italy celebrating their qualification with their fans,” he said. “Of Hungary celebrating [the win over Scotland] when they didn’t even know if they were through. Of Denmark celebrating a draw against us and they were on two points.

“I have to help the players as much as I possibly can because we brought the joy back into playing for England and we have to be very careful of where we head with it.”

Southgate’s tenure has been defined by the creation of a positive culture in which the England shirt has been lighter to wear. But a number of elements have come together to threaten it, starting with the criticism that a team of such obvious attacking talent should look so blunt. Throw in the sky-high expectations and the sense of a bit of battle fatigue after nearly eight years with the same man in charge and it partly explains why there was such an eruption after the Slovenia game, with Southgate also having a few plastic cups thrown at him. Some fans did also applaud him.

“I’m not going to hide from it [facing the fans],” he said. “I’ve got to show my players the fearlessness we are asking of them on the pitch. So I will continue to do that. We are playing for big stakes. We are trying to do something that has never been done before [win the Euros] and so we have to have a mentality that we are prepared to walk towards those challenges.”