Express & Star

Matt Maher: Gareth Southgate on a hiding to nothing thanks to Raheem Sterling skirmish

Anyone questioning Gareth Southgate’s decision to make Raheem Sterling’s bust-up with Joe Gomez public should be advised that in reality England’s boss had little choice in the matter.

Published

The moment Sterling jumped off his seat and attempted to grab Gomez by the throat in the St George’s Park canteen, the countdown began as to when the story would emerge.

Training ground rows are hardly uncommon in a sport which places young men in a high-pressure, high-profile environment.

But a room full of players and staff witnessed this incident. There was simply no way they were all going to stay quiet. The reality is the England set-up extends well beyond 20-odd players to their family, friends, agents and frankly, people talk. That is how it works.

By deciding to go public (the FA were already working on a statement before the story broke late on Monday night) Southgate at least guaranteed himself some control of the ensuing narrative.

Trying to be evasive or attempting to brush the whole thing under the carpet would not have been a good look for a manager who has built his reputation on a refreshingly honest approach.

Fronting up is more often than not the best policy, at least to an extent. By the time of his press conference on Tuesday afternoon it was clear Southgate would not be giving away many more details about the incident.

There was no hiding the fact that for the first time in front of the cameras during his England reign, he looked a little uncertain, nervous even. That should be understandable for what is undoubtedly the biggest test of his tenure to date. Southgate is not so foolish to think the incident will be forgotten simply because it is considered closed at St George’s Park.

True, the media focus will never be so high as it has been this week. You can guarantee it will be revisited, however, both the next time Sterling or Gomez speak publicly and as the rest of the season plays out both domestically and in Europe. The Liverpool-Manchester City rivalry isn’t going anywhere soon and if anything will only intensify.

That perhaps offers the biggest clue as to why Southgate felt the need to make such a stand.

Raheem Sterling’s bust-up with Joe Gomez

This incident, after all, hits at the heart of arguably his biggest success since taking charge in 2016, that of making the national team akin to a club environment and making sure everyone is treated equally.

It has not always been that way. One of the major reasons typically cited for the failure of England’s so-called ‘Golden Generation’ of Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand and John Terry were the entrenched club rivalries which existed between Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea. “One year we would have been fighting Liverpool to win the league, another year it would be Chelsea,” said Ferdinand last year.

“So I was never going to walk into the England dressing room and open up to Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, John Terry or Joe Cole at Chelsea, or Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher at Liverpool.

“I wouldn’t open up because of the fear they would take something back to their club and use it against us, to make them better than us. I didn’t really want to engage with them.

“It overshadowed things. It killed that generation, that team.”

Building a collective spirit is a delicate art but the balance is even more precarious in international football, where rivals are encouraged to become team-mates for a couple of weeks every few months.

Get it right and success can often follow. Joachim Low’s ability to bring together the Bayern Munich-Borussia Dortmund factions running through Germany’s squad is seen as a major factor in their 2014 World Cup win.

Southgate knows he cannot allow his work building a culture to unravel, certainly not seven months out from a major tournament.

England manager Gareth Southgate during the training session at St George's Park

There will be some who feel he over-reacted and has been heavy-handed in suspending Sterling for tonight’s match with Montenegro. There are others who may feel he showed weakness in changing his original decision, which would have seen the winger banished from the squad entirely, after consulting with a leadership group which includes Harry Kane and Jordan Henderson.

A different view is that by involving his players, Southgate actually showed leadership. Surely the best managers are those who are prepared to take on board the views of others and amend their own if necessary?

Either way, it is impossible to escape the sense those players might have done their manager a favour. If Sterling had been expelled from the squad then his every move over the following days would have been tracked.

Punishing a player always runs the risk they will bear a grudge but there was no way Southgate could have saved him from media scrutiny. At least by Sterling remaining with the squad he has an element of protection and England an element of control.

The alternative would have seen him followed by the press every time he went out for petrol or to buy a pint of milk. He may be grateful to Southgate for that.

The bottom line is there is no set process for a manager to deal with such incidents.

Southgate is a man who always acts in the manner he feels is right and to this point few can claim it has not served both him and England well. Ultimately, only time will tell whether the calls he made this week were the right ones.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.