The Scottish newspaper the National has a vile, bigoted and racist front page headline this morning, depicting a Spanish player kicking an England fan in the head. Can anyone imagine them doing this to a BAME or Muslim football fan ? No, me neither. Most of us have long known that for significant parts of left wing society, anti Englishness is on a par with anti Semitism as an acceptable form of racism. The National should be prosecuted.
Watching Your 1966 w/c win on c4 just now. Seemed odd without Kenneth Wolstenholme's iconic commentary at the end.
The best team won the tournament. Southgate just can’t get it over the line when it really matters - he should go now . Two massive embarrassments tonight - Harry Kane’s performance, and Rio Ferdinand’s destruction of the English language.
England - 3 wins & 3 draws & 1 defeat during regulation 90 or 120 minutes. Spain - 7 wins, all within 90 minutes. Undoubtedly the best team won the Tournament. England rode the easiest side of the draw, and caught the Swiss on an off day. The Netherlands win was our only decent result. Spain had 7 decent results. I don't mind if they give Gareth the next World Cup too. England won't get anywhere near winning that regardless of who the Gaffer is.
Congratulations to the Spanish. They have been the best team in the tournament. Southgate and England are the perennial bridesmaids. The Spanish are pro active, we under Southgate are reactive.
Did I read earlier in the thread that Southgate earns £7m a year to be England Manager? If so, I believe that's around 20 to 30 times what the Prime Minister is paid. An argument could be made for that money being well spent if England had won a tournament. But £7m a year over 8 years is £56m. That's a lot of money to pay for failure. The crop of talented English players we have now, who are arguably better than the 'Golden generation' have been made who they are by their Club managers. But they cannot be coached to play as a winning combination by Southgate. Save for part of the Holland game England were unimpressive throughout the whole tournament. That says everything about him, and very little about them.
I think Spain ended up playing 7 & winning 7, you can’t argue with that. In truth, England were stodgy throughout the tournament & relied on three excellent individual goals from Bellingham, Saka and last night, Cole Palmer. I thought John Stones was our MOM last night but Guehi struggled (asleep for their 2nd goal). Kane looks absolutely knackered and Bellingham didn’t have a great competition overall. As for nice guy Gareth, as Paddy Crerand once said in another context, “give me a nasty bastard who’ll win something “.
We've relied on brilliant moments from talented youngsters - which took us further than I thought it would. But that's no substitute for a system of team play that wins matches, and within which individual players are less important. That's what Spain have had all through the Tournament. Switzerland had it too. We were fortunate in my view that for some reason they played poorly against England in the QF. Harry Kane needs to be dropped for the 2026 World Cup Finals. (that's assuming we qualify of course). He is in danger of becoming a kind of 'Ronaldo' figure within the England squad. Has to play, regardless of whether it's the best option.
felicidades españa te lo merecías I thought Guehi had an excellent tournament as did Stones. I thought Walker was at fault for their first goal. It was ironic that the defence was deemed a problem at the start of the tournament. But it turned out to be Kane and to a lesser extent Foden who had a poor tournament. I think England should be planning now for the World Cup under a new manager. I would also drop Kane and introduce more pace into the team. We have looked a different team with Palmer and Watkins in it. We have excellent young players. Time to let them off the leash.
Where do people stand on Southgate? From my POV, his record in club management (relegated with Middlesbrough) never justified his appointment as an England manager. He was Jonny On The Spot after the Allardyce scandal, but it was the way that he then overtly managed upwards while on trial and went out of his way to be the opposite to beer drinking, arse pinching Big Sam, that really grated. I have got a fundamental suspicion and dislike of any person who is openly Woke, and Southgate spent far too much time in his tenure talking about political and societal issues that are none of his concern, including the ridiculous George Floyd / Bend the Knee movement - one which many England fans disagreed with and was prolonged to keep the sponsors happy , yet the England team carried on with long after other countries had stopped bending over in the name of a US citizen who was a multiple felon. In the three games that really counted in 100 plus games in charge - Croatia in the WC semi, Italy and Spain in the Euro finals, Southgate was too cautious, too negative and too passive. He’s not a good tactician, he’s a player’s friendly older brother. It will be interesting to see where he ends up next - I bet he doesn’t get a manager’s job at an elite club level.
I I would like to thank him for moving England on . But it is time to say goodbye and to bring someone in to take us to the next level. With the players we have available we should be looking to win tournaments.
I like the way he conducts himself. I see accusations of "Woke" (whatever that means) as a positive. Being beaten narrowly by a superb Spanish team is no disgrace. He took the job when nobody of any stature wanted it, and it remains to be seen if anyone of stature will want the job if he leaves, as looks likely.
Without getting into a political debate, “woke” is very different to left wing. “Woke” is about virtue signalling to show how worthy you and your causes are. George Floyd being a good example. The market for the next England manager has Eddie Howe, Frank Lampard & Graham Potter to the fore - there are plenty of English candidates with top level managerial experience.
