Opinion: Is the Southgate antidote running low?

England’s men’s team history is littered with managers that have lost their jobs due to scandals uncovered by the media and the forensic spotlight that shines on the incumbent.

Glenn Hoddle, Sam Allardyce, and Terry Venables all left following off field issues. Even for the managers that weren’t embroiled in scandal, the pressure, responsibility, and heavy weight of expectation that comes with the job can lead to indignant ends.

The cliché goes that the England job is a poison chalice, cliches are usually well worn when there is a basis of truth.

This perhaps has been Gareth Southgate’s greatest achievement. Promoted from the England U21’s following Allardyce’s sacking, many viewed him sceptically as the FA’s yes man, but he has proven to be a breath of fresh air. In a period of flux and instability he transformed a young team, allowing the media to get close to them and see them as the young men that they were.

The 2018 march to the World Cup semi-final was a huge achievement. A young squad became more than the sum of its parts, and Southgate became the emblem of the side, as waistcoats sold out across the land.

In the build up to the 2018 World Cup, Southgate touched on one of the reasons why the team would go on to capture the nations hearts.

In an interview with ITV, he said: “We’re a team with our diversity and youth that represents modern England and in England we’ve spent a bit of time being lost as to what our modern identity is, and I think as a team we represent that modern identity and hopefully people can connect with us.

“We have a chance to affect something bigger than ourselves.”

Southgate seemed born for the role. While some fans criticised his tactics, and still do, he brought so much more to the team.

He was calm, considered and comfortable in dealing with the additional responsibilities and the expectations placed on him by the media and the public. Instead of shielding himself and his players from the attention, he embraced it and allowed his players to do the same.

It may seem hyperbolic, but this was a team that united England at a time of heightened division, it provided a focal point for hope and for national pride that didn’t involve politics. An opportunity to support England without saying the word Brexit.

Fast forward five years, division in the country remains, but it has slowly crept into the nation’s view of its national team.

Success on the pitch should not be belittled or overlooked, make no mistake Southgate will go down as one of England’s greatest managers, even if a trophy is not secured.

He has led the national team to a semi-final, final and quarter-final in major tournaments, and qualification for Euro 2024 is assured.

However, off the field there does appear to be a change from those heady days of 2018. An enthusiastic Southgate now seems brow beaten.

The moral implications of the World Cup held in Qatar and his decision to pick Jordan Henderson despite his move to Saudi Arabia have dominated headlines and press conferences over the last year.

It has been a unique time to be an England manager, where he has been expected to comment on geopolitical situations.

But this unique time has provided unique opportunities. Opportunities to affect something bigger than themselves, to borrow Southgate’s words.

These opportunities have not been taken. The squad backed down from wearing the pride armband in Qatar when faced with the horrifying prospect of a yellow card.

Before the World Cup, the team, including Henderson, commented on the appalling treatment of workers in Qatar of which Amnesty International had shown them pictures and videos. This level of introspection seems to have ceased on arrival in Qatar, where any level of consideration seemed minimal.

Just as Southgate thought middle eastern politics was behind him, Jordan Henderson decided to join the cash rich Saudi Arabian side Al Ettifaq in the summer.

Arguably, that should not be a big issue. Henderson is free to go wherever he wants, but like Southgate, he represented more than just football.

He was a moral leader who stood up for marginalised groups and provided a platform to support them. He led the Premier League players in creating a fund to give to the NHS when politicians lined up to criticise footballers during the COVID crisis. He was an advocate for rainbow laces and the LGBTQ+ community found a rare voice sticking up for them in an industry dominated by toxic masculinity.

To decide to take the big money offer from a country where homosexuality is illegal left that community feeling betrayed.

The England manager has named him in every team since, despite the standard of the Saudi Pro League being below what would be expected of a top level international.

Southgate has defended Henderson, and his selection within the team, citing the midfielder’s leadership. But the scrutiny of this decision and the pressure on him to justify the moral implications appear to be wearing on him.

When faced with numerous questions regarding the issue, and how Henderson’s selection would make the LGBTQ+ community feel, Southgate’s answers have fallen short. Straddling the line between, I’m sorry they feel that way, to whataboutery and questioning the morals of the public that criticise.

The man that wanted his team to represent more than just football is now skirting ever closer to neglecting everything else.

He criticised the thousands of fans that booed Jordan Henderson at Wembley on Friday night, saying it “defies logic”. The issue has dominated the past two national team meetings, for the depth of feeling to be a surprise to Southgate is staggering.

He commented further that the issues with Saudi Arabia should have nothing to do with supporting England, while adding:

"I'm hugely impressed with the impeccable values and decisions that everybody in our country is making then.”

Perhaps they are all idealists, just as Southgate once showed himself to be. Perhaps with Henderson in the squad, this isn’t a team that fans feel represents them.

The Henderson issue is not clear cut, many fans showed their support for the ex-Liverpool captain by cheering his introduction at Wembley against Italy.

A show of support not just to Henderson but to Southgate’s stance on the situation.

Maybe it is unfair for Southgate to be expected to take a moral stance, he is a football manager after all. But those expectations are born out from the way Southgate has conducted himself since taking on the role in 2016.

This may not end up being a defining issue of Southgate’s reign as England manager, but the court of public opinion does come to bear on those in the role and Southgate, for the first time, seems to be struggling with this.

It is demonstrative of the pressures that the England job brings. It is much more than a football managerial role. Southgate’s has led the way in the past in speaking about important issues, but now seems reluctant to do so, certainly with the same enthusiasm or vigour.

If the England national team manager role is a poisoned chalice, for some it hits hard and fast, but perhaps the slowest poison is the more painful.