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By Tim Sigsworth
Gareth Southgate’s popularity has risen immeasurably over the course of the 2018 World Cup. Having guided England to their first World Cup Semi-Final since 1990 through a mix of self-belief, unity and tactical nous, the 47-year-old has to be considered one of the brightest, (relatively) young managers in world football.
Gareth Southgate’s popularity has risen immeasurably over the course of the 2018 World Cup. Having guided England to their first World Cup Semi-Final since 1990 through a mix of self-belief, unity and tactical nous, the 47-year-old has to be considered one of the brightest, (relatively) young managers in world football.
Yet in October 2009, after being sacked by Boro following
relegation to the Championship, Southgate’s reputation was a million miles away
from where it is now. Boro’s first relegation since the 1996/97 season had
occurred just three years after the club had reached the UEFA Cup final and
such a dramatic decline has been mainly attributed to his inexperience.
His first foray into club management contrasts vividly with
the unanticipated highs of England’s 2018 World Cup campaign and so it is worth
analysing how the experiences of eight years on Teesside as both a player and
manager have influenced Southgate’s future success.
Leading by Example
Seventeen
years ago today, on the 11th of July 2001, Steve McClaren made his
first signing as Middlesbrough manager with Gareth Southgate transferring from
Aston Villa for £6.5m.
Southgate was a player whose
reputation was strong. With 42 England caps to his name, the 30-year-old was
expected to strengthen Boro’s defence and form a formidable partnership with
Ugo Ehiogu as the pair had done at Villa between 1995 and 2000.
After a relatively successful first season at Boro during
which the club reached the Semi-Finals of the FA Cup and Southgate made 44
appearances, the then 31-year-old was made club captain in July 2002 following
Paul Ince’s departure to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Despite having only been at the club for 12 months, the
appointment of Southgate as captain wasn’t surprising considering the fact that
he was made Crystal Palace captain aged 23 and held all the right personal
qualities for such a role.
In a November 2016 interview with the Daily Star, former
Boro Chief Executive Keith Lamb remarked:
“He may look as if butter would not melt but he’s tough. You
don’t have the playing career he had without being tough. In many respects,
Gareth’s a wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing.”
“His greatest strength is that he’s a natural leader.
Players look up to him and he commands respect wherever he goes without even
trying.”
Southgate’s instantaneous respectability is also referenced
by Hartlepool United manager Matthew Bates, who played with and under Southgate
between 2005 and 2009.
“As a pro he was first in, last out at the training ground.”
“I always remember my debut, it was away at Tottenham.
Jermain Defoe has kind of danced past him [Southgate], faced up to me and got a
shot away and I remember Gareth looking at me. I don’t know if it was my
mistake or his mistake, I still don’t now, but being a young lad I certainly
didn’t know at the time.”
“It was the look, the eyes. But he knew I was making my
debut, I was nervous and I needed him to help me out a bit and he was doing
that. He wouldn’t call me out or blast me. That look in his eyes, he commanded
respect.”
Southgate’s leadership as Middlesbrough Captain was mainly
based on his immense work ethic and the numerous experiences he had been
through during his 18-year playing career. When he became manager of the club
in 2006, the value of this experience was diminished as instead of solely
concentrating on his position and the well-being of his teammates, Southgate
now had to shoulder responsibility for tactics, recruitment, team selection and
the media.
Such a step-up occurred with no coaching experience or
sabbatical in between, and thus Southgate believes he wasn’t in the ideal
position a first-time manager would like to be in.
In an interview with ‘The
Coaches’ Voice’, Southgate reflected on his inexperience.
“Every meeting I was in and every experience was brand new
to me. Nothing I’d done up to that point in my life had really prepared me for
any of it. I couldn’t hide from that.”
“I think everybody knew I wasn’t completely ready, but I was
fortunate to have some good, experienced coaches around me that really helped
enormously, people like Steve Harrison and Malcolm Crosby. Without their
support initially, it would have been really difficult.”
“One of the hardest things as a new coach is that you don’t
have any evidence of what works. You have an idea in your mind of how you think
things should be run, but you don’t actually have evidence of the results until
you’ve lived through it.”
“You’re constantly being challenged by everybody. Your every
decision is questioned. Alongside all of that, you have questions in your own
mind.”
“Should we be training like this? Should we be training as
intensely? Should we be signing this player?”
“Until you can build up those experiences, it’s very
difficult as a manager to be convincing to everybody else.”
“It was an experience that I learned so much from, though.
As a coach, it undoubtedly left me better prepared for what was to come.”
“In 2016, people might have thought that it was a big step
for me to go from managing England’s Under-21s to the seniors. To me, it was
nowhere near as big a step as going from Middlesbrough player to manager
overnight.”
Although they were undoubtedly difficult to endure at the
time, Southgate’s experiences at Boro now stand him in good stead as he can
draw on them to react quickly to challenges England face both on and off the
pitch at the World Cup, whilst also being able to use them as motivation for
himself, his staff and his players.
“I know some of the things that have worked over the years,
and the scenarios that we’ve been through as a team, and I can put them into
some context. That should be a strength for us as a team because, as a coach,
I’m not going to be surprised by a lot of things that are likely to happen.”
“And if something does come out of the blue, this time I
know I’ve got the experience to handle it.”
Man-Management
Throughout his career, Southgate has been regularly
dismissed as ‘too nice’ by those on the outside looking in.
As Boro hurtled towards relegation in the 2008/09 season,
many criticised him for being too measured in his post-match assessments and after
he was appointed as England manager in 2016, the general conception was that
the FA had chosen the easy route by appointing a yes man who wouldn’t give them
too many headaches.
On the contrary, it is possible to argue that because he
possesses greater empathy than many of those who came before him, England’s
performances have been improved. It is worth asking whether you’d prefer to be
managed by a stubborn autocrat with little to no concern for anything other
than performance on the pitch, or by a genuinely caring individual who realises
that performances on the pitch are directly linked to the approaches taken and
decisions made off it.
Michael Caulfield was Boro’s Sports Psychologist when
Southgate was in charge and he dismissed the suggestion that the 47-year-old is
overly nice in an interview with Radio 5 Live.
"There have been some lazy opinions written about
Gareth; it was absurd to say he was too nice to be a leader."
"To be a leader, sometimes you have to have basic
kindness, and he cares about people. He remains a fierce competitor and we
should not mistake his calmness for a lack of passion."
Whether allowing Fabian Delph to return home for the birth
of his child or providing a comfortable environment for Danny Rose, who had
been suffering with depression, to express himself in, Southgate’s generosity
has invoked a harmony and ferocious desire to perform that hasn’t been seen in
any England squad in the 21st century.
Perhaps Southgate has learned to remain loyal to his
principles. In an interview with the Guardian, Southgate revealed his
footballing philosophy and belief in kindness has been ever-present throughout
his career, but that as a younger manager he lacked the conviction or
confidence to implement it.
“I suppose deep down I’ve always held those beliefs and held
my own values, but not being confident enough to impose them. Certainly, I
compromised a lot of that when I was with Middlesbrough. I wasn’t confident
enough.”
“You don’t have evidence it works until you’ve achieved
results and then going through relegation and the problems that causes is a
reminder, hang on a second, there are things there I don’t truly believe in.”
What Southgate has managed to do through the development of
his man-management skills is to build a sense of togetherness that has inspired
both his players and the public. Never in my lifetime have I seen such optimism
and faithfulness in the national team, and Southgate deserves plaudits for
achieving this through his personality and approach to man-management.
Tactics
Tactically, Southgate’s time as Boro manager was a mixed
bag. He attempted to play a passing-based style which, due to the lacklustre
quality of players available, failed to set the Riverside alight. Fans would
often become frustrated as with no options available for a direct attack, games
tended to collapse into sideways and back passing affairs.
After taking charge in 2006, Southgate faced several
tactical challenges that had an impact on his players. Speaking in a podcast
with football writer Guillem Balague, Southgate reflected on his experiences
with Gaizka Mendieta.
"He came to Boro and we won our first trophy in the
club's history. He had lots of qualities as a player, but with the way we
played, we didn't get the best out of his ability. If I was playing him in my
team now I'd have him as a No 8 or a No 10 and in-field, but back then I didn't
have a clear image.”
"I looked at what we had as a team, we had Viduka and
Yakubu so I needed to get those goals in the team, so how could I fit the other
pieces around that? But as a coach who'd just
finished playing I didn't have all of the answers in my mind.”
"There'll be some players I managed in those first
couple of years who have an opinion of me as a coach, Ray Parlour would be
another, but they wouldn't have known what I was going through day-to-day in
terms of learning, developing and understanding.”
"Three years down the line I'd have handled those
situations differently, and 10 years down the line you have so many more
skills. As a coach you learn from every training session, game or player you
deal with.”
“You've been through most of the scenarios you're going to
face and are confident with the decisions you're making and how you're handling
senior players. I'd have known how to get the best out of a player like Mendi
who physically wasn't in top condition to play right wing but was an excellent
technical player.”
Nine years down the line and any questions of Southgate’s
tactical insecurity are laughable.
Having manoeuvred his way through qualification using a
tried and tested 4-2-3-1, Southgate committed to experimenting with a three at
the back system that was akin to the formation used so effectively by Antonio
Conte’s Chelsea during their title-winning 2016/17 season.
His England side have sourced their success through
innovation and compromise. As Kieran Trippier possesses a fine delivery and a
willingness to bomb up and down the right flank but found himself behind Kyle
Walker in the pecking order, Southgate converted Walker to a ball-playing
centre-half.
This provided pace and adventurism in the centre of defence,
whilst not limiting the attacking capabilities that are so needed at wing-back.
Furthermore, Trippier’s inclusion has increased the success rate of England’s
set-pieces and thus facilitated for the efficient exploitation of Harry
Maguire, John Stones and Eric Dier’s set piece abilities.
In between the sticks, Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford
has shown why he is so highly rated, pulling off magnificent saves in both the
Quarter-Final and Semi-Final and distributing the ball as precisely as ever.
Further up the pitch, the serially underrated Liverpool
Captain Jordan Henderson has played in a ball-playing, holding midfield role
from which he has displayed a vast passing range as well as body-on-the-line
defensive abilities.
Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard have played as free-roaming
attacking midfielders looking to press the opposition’s back line, and have
enjoyed some success from long-shots and linked up for England’s 2nd
goal against Sweden in the Quarter-Final.
The two main attacking threats, Raheem Sterling and Harry
Kane, have both sacrificed massively for the good of the team. With Harry Kane
as industrious as ever, Sterling, who plays just behind Kane as a shadow
striker, has dropped back as deep as his own half in order to pick up the ball
and open attacking options for the Young, Trippier, Henderson, Alli and
Lingard.
Asked before England’s friendly against Costa Rica in May
whether England had trained with other tactical systems, Southgate replied with
a firm ‘no’. This was a continuation of a stance he had first adopted in
October 2017 when after England’s final qualification game against Lithuania,
he had stated:
“We have to have some consistency in formation, some
consistency in what we are asking the players to do.”
“We have to focus on a system and really try to hone it,
work on it, improve it, and that might mean we have to leave some good players
out. You have such little time to work the players that the more clarity they
have under pressure then they will know what to fall back on.”
This self-assuredness highlights just how far Southgate has
come since his days in charge of Boro and is recognised by one of his former
players, Egyptian striker Mido.
“The way I see him talking now, I think he’s changed a lot
because at his first job at Middlesbrough he used to panic big-time during
games and at half-time. For me as a player who had played for so many different
managers, you could easily see it. If you look at this guy in the dressing room
you’d think ‘that’s his first job’.”
“But now I see the way that he’s handled Sterling and a lot
of other things around the team. I think he learned a lot from working with the
FA and working on his badges. I really like what he’s doing now.”
Conclusion
The differences between Gareth Southgate’s time as Boro
manager and England manager do vary in terms of tactical and man-management
success purely because of the experiences the 47-year-old endured both at Boro
and with the FA.
However, what remains is a genuine likeability and a
commitment to doing the right thing. It is this decency which has made the
country fall in love with Gareth and empowered the England squad to play so
unexpectedly well.
The whole of England is with you, Gareth. Bring it home.
