IT'S COMING HOME?
 

Have you ever tried searching the internet for an image of Keir Starmer and Gareth Southgate together?
I have, this morning, and I couldn't find one! Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
 

 

'Events, dear boy, events' was the reply that Prime Minster Harold Macmillan gave when he was asked what was the most difficult thing about being Prime Minister. Gareth Southgate could validly have given the same answer to a similar question as to what the most difficult thing is about being Manager of the England football team. Last week he found himself being pelted with beer glasses; while 2 games later he is reportedly being implored by the English Football Association to extend his contract for another campaign. Most people agree that Southgate seems to be a 'decent bloke', whose commitment to the cause is beyond question but who is not necessarily a footballing genius nor the most exciting of personalities. Neither is there much disagreement that the England set-up he inherited was in 'a bad place' spiritually and that his calm steady demeanour, plus a splash of sound insight into the human condition, has enabled him to meld a bunch of overpriced egos into a good value whole. Southgate's appointment to England Manager was not totally surprising; a former regular England player, with modest club managerial experience, he was in the frame as manager of a successful England under-21 team. However most would agree that he got there by more by dint of what came before than by his own hand. In many respects his appointment to the England job in 2016 was a good match for the underwhelming team he inherited. And yet in 2018 Southgate's England team found themselves, against all expectations, in the semi of the World Cup, without having to play a leading team; only to lose a winnable game against Croatia. As home nation at the 2020 Euros the nation had realistic hopes of invoking the spirit of 66, only to yield the initiative and the trophy to Italy in the final. Surprisingly for many, Southgate's contract was extended after that campaign and in Qatar, at the 2022 World Cup, England again faltered at the point when they encountered their first major side in France at the Quarter Final stage. Most commentators concur that this Euro tournament is Southgate's Waterloo; with a squad of talent players at least as good as any other, anything short of victory will not be acceptable. This campaign has, in fact, has been a typical Southgate England campaign. Cut no bones about it, until the Switzerland game the performances have been rank. A hyped up nation was turning into a lynch mob but by dint of fortunate results elsewhere, a last gasp miracle, a penalty shoot-out and one solid performance England stand on the brink of hyperbole: Southgate is knocking at the entrance door to immortality.
 

 
 

Just a week ago Keir Starmer did walk through the door to Number 10 on his own quest for immortality. It would be an own-goal, where I to overstretch Keir Starmer's horizons with those of Southgate's but there are, IMHO, some valid comparisons that can be made. His inheritance is also problematic. To say the least: a country that has lost its centre, traumatised by its recent experiences and in serious danger of underachieving despite its historical resources. Starmer's ascendancy to the top job also owed itself majorly to disastrous predecessors and to a big dollop of 'last man standing' about it. Inheriting a party fighting amongst itself, Starmer's has coalesced them into a winning team via calm steady leadership with an eye on the goal, rather than by attempting to forge a unifying philosophy. In my last post, I suggested that Starmer's greatest strength maybe that, like Prime Minister Atlee before him, he is a 'grey man, whose talents may be in being collegiate rather than imperious.
 

  

It is said that ‘comparisons are odious’ in that they can be misleading and/or unhelpful. Indeed the situation facing a Prime Minister  is a considerably more complex and multi-dimensional responsibility than that facing the manager of a football team. I certainly accept this yet am still struck by the similar tonalities of the 2 men. Our interconnected ‘always on’ world, with its emphasis on Instancy, has elevated the quality of Celebrity to a level demanded on too many levels. So, perhaps cometh the hour cometh the grey men who will each be winners in the arenas of their choosing. As an American Football coach once said: ‘Winning isn’t the only thing, it’s everything’. COME ON ENGLAND!

 

Keep The Faith

ERICLE