the times | Wednesday May 25 2022 2GM 61
FootballSport
difficulties, and maybe that is playing a
part, and we’ve been in a pandemic with
huge restrictions for a long time.
“Why are we filming ourselves abus-
ing other people, taunting other people
or looking for a reaction? Why do
people dump their rubbish when they
drive out of a service station?”
He sees the excess in pitch invasions
as an English societal problem often
polluting football. He sees it on “high
streets on a Friday and Saturday night”
— and this is a man who lives near
peaceful Harrogate. “Alcohol and drugs
are a part of that equation,” Southgate
says of football’s problem.
England play Germany the day after
the D-Day anniversary and Southgate
knows he will hear the travelling fans
singing Ten German Bombers in Mu-
nich. Southgate said he would feel “no
different to how I feel when I’m on holi-
day and I see people not behaving
themselves as they should be.
“It is certainly not all of our fans
because we have terrific ambassadors
[who] would be poured another glass of
whatever and be welcomed in. You are
talking about a number that is too big,
but it is not everybody. What can we
do? We can only call it out. We would
not be happy if people came to our
country and behaved in that way.
“We are all tarnished when that hap-pens. People who are watching the [ri-
ot-affected Euro 2020] final here —
that is their view of our society. We
finish the game, you’ve got the
disappointment of losing, then we had
the racist abuse of the boys [who missed
penalties in the shoot-out] and
wrapped up in all of that people who
were having to deal with what had hap-
pened inside the stadium. That wasn’t a
pleasant experience for anybody. The
FA have recognised their own responsi-bilities and the nature of the [insuffi-
cient] perimeter of the ground. I believe
there were instances at the FA Cup final
but they were resolved quickly because
of the learnings of the [Euro] final.”
England were punished with a two-
game stadium ban, with one match sus-
pended. “Well, we’re on a yellow card,
aren’t we? We’ve got the embarrass-
ment now of playing behind closed
doors at home. Normally when you
watch those things having happened
abroad we’re all grandstanding about
how it’s someone else’s problem and
how this country should be dealt with
and now it’s us. Again that’s not a good
optic for our country.”
Playing behind closed doors is dispir-
iting for the players. “There’s obviously
an impact on the team and a financial
impact on English football. The FA
takes a hit so that impacts funding
somewhere. The people that are being
punished are not the people that caused
the problem.”
Southgate’s stance on people need-
ing to be good citizens and taking re-
sponsibility was echoed when he ob-
served that the players he picks are a
mix of the right talent and attitude. “I
don’t think you can separate it because
the best players have it all and why were
Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Ash-
ley Cole top, top players?” Southgatesaid. “Because they had both [talent
and attitude]. So [it is] in any top team.
Why are Liverpool where they are?
Why are Manchester City where they
are? They’ve got all of that, they have to
produce week after week after week.
We have seen the most incredible levels
of consistent performance and that’s
because they have talent but the men-
tality and the attitude is fundamental.”
Bowen’s ability and attitude have
been reflected in 18 goals and 11 assists
for West Ham this term. “The team
have had a really good season and
they’ve had a great run in Europe as
well so he’s had that experience, which
will stand him in good stead,” South-
gate said of the 25-year-old forward,
who started out at Hereford and Hull
City. He’s come a different route where
he’s had to fight all the way and play in
the lower divisions and it’s a reminder,
as with a lot of our players, that there’s
not one way to get to the top. It’s not just
about a good academy education.
“You can learn your traits in the
Football League and many of our
players have. He’s scored goals at every
level and he’s overcome each hurdle
that he’s gone to, so this is the next step
for him. It’s a fabulous moment for him
and he shouldn’t be worried about com-
ing into the group, because his perform-
ances warrant where he is.”England squad
Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton),
Nick Pope (Burnley), Aaron Ramsdale
(Arsenal).
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold
(Liverpool), Conor Coady (Wolverhampton),
Marc Guéhi (Crystal Palace), Reece James
(Chelsea), James Justin (Leicester), Harry
Maguire (Manchester United), John Stones
(Manchester City), Fikayo Tomori (AC Milan),
Kieran Trippier (Newcastle), Kyle Walker
(Manchester City), Ben White (Arsenal).
Midfielders: Jude Bellingham (Borussia
Dortmund), Conor Gallagher (Chelsea),
Mason Mount (Chelsea), Kalvin Phillips
(Leeds), Declan Rice (West Ham), James
Ward-Prowse (Southampton).
Forwards: Tammy Abraham (Roma), Jarrod
Bowen (West Ham), Phil Foden (Manchester
City), Jack Grealish (Manchester City), Harry
Kane (Tottenham), Bukayo Saka (Arsenal),
Raheem Sterling (Manchester City).Gareth Southgate called for prison sen-
tences for those pitch invaders found
guilty of aggressive acts but added that
it was a “societal” problem and particu-
larly prevalent as “we are in difficult
moment as a country”. Admitting to
being “embarrassed” by fans’ behav-
iour, Southgate also urged England
supporters to remember they are “am-
bassadors” for the country when they
travel to Munich to face Germany on
June 7.
The England manager sat in the
away dressing room at Wembley yes-
terday and was able only briefly to
reflect on his 27-man squad for the up-
coming Nations League games against
Hungary in Budapest, Germany in
Munich, and then Italy and Hungary at
Molineux. The Italy game is behind
closed doors at Molineux because the
FA was hit with a stadium ban after the
riot at the Euro 2020 final at Wembley.
Southgate did talk about his admira-
tion for Jarrod Bowen’s prolific work for
West Ham United and explained why
Jordan Henderson was being rested
because of his Liverpool workload. He
did clarify why he omitted Tyrone
Mings, of Aston Villa, and ignored the
in-form Eric Dier, of Tottenham Hot-
spur, because he wanted to look further
at Marc Guéhi, Ben White and Fikayo
Tomori at centre back. He also praised
James Justin’s persistence in coming
back from injury at Leicester City as
one reason why he was included.
But it was the urgent headline issue of
fan behaviour that Southgate mainly
addressed. Emphasising that “I am not
a sociologist”, Southgate clearly thinks
deeply about the reasons for such
errant conduct — whether goading
managers, headbutting players, break-
ing crossbars on English pitches or the
crass refrains filling the air in city
centres when England travel.
“We’ve all historically seen pitch in-
vasions [such as] when Ronnie Radford
scored [at Hereford United against
Newcastle United in the FA Cup in
1972]. There’s joy everywhere, and there
are wonderful scenes, but unfortunate-
ly that’s not where we are now with how
people are; this sort of goading... it’s vi-
olence,” Southgate said.
“Some of these things are criminal
acts. People are receiving prison sen-
tences, so that is correct — you
shouldn’t be on the field of play. We
have to try to secure the pitches. What
we don’t want is to go back to fences.
That’s reliant on, of course, the best
possible stewarding and the best poss-
ible policing. But there’s a reality that if
people want to go beyond that, it is very
difficult to stop.
“Football at various times in my life-
time has become the vehicle for that —
people who want a fight — and we don’t
want to head back there. The last
25 years have been brilliant atmos-
pheres in grounds, families back in,
women back in, feeling more comfort-
able, and that’s great for the game and
there’s still a tremendous atmosphere.
It is not that we needed 40,000 blokes
in there to make it a great atmosphere.
“But we are in difficult moment as a
country. I recognise that for many
people in our society there are financial
Southgate warns fan violence risks
dragging football back to bad days
Henry Winter
Chief Football
WriterCall-ups for
uncapped
duo
Jarro d Bowen
James Justin
England’s next
fixturesMobile threat
Bowen gives England an alternative to
Bukayo Saka on the right-hand side — the
newcomer is one of the Premier League’s
best players at carrying the ball at his
feet to create or convert scoring chances.
This chart shows he trailed only Mo Salah
in that regard last season.
Most goals/assists after carry**carry means moving five or more metres with the ballMo Salah Liverpool (6 goals/4 assists)Jarrod Bowen West Ham (4/4)Son Heung-min Spurs (5/2)Bukayo Saka Arsenal (3/4)Harvey Barnes Leicester (1/6)Michail Antonio West Ham (3/3)Bruno Fernandes Man Utd (2/4)Reece James Chelsea (2/4)108 7 7 7 6 6 6Nations League A,
group three
Saturday, June 4
*Hungary v England
(5pm, Budapest)
Tuesday, June 7
Germany v England
(7.45pm, Munich)
Saturday, June 11
*England v Italy
(7.45pm, Molineux)
Tuesday, June 14
England v Hungary
(7.45pm, Molineux)
(* played behind
closed doors)