Southgate has one more step on road to England redemption

BERLIN — It has been an eventful journey from figure of ridicule to the brink of national treasure status for Gareth Southgate — a road involving pizza, plastic beer glasses and a brief period as a fashion icon — and now, the England men’s national team manager is potentially 90 minutes away from ending a 28-year wait for redemption at Euro 2024.

Very few people are lucky enough to have one career-defining moment, and even fewer get the chance to make amends for a negative one. But Southgate been so successful since taking charge of England in 2016 — outshining all but one of his predecessors — that the moment that haunted him no longer defines him.

It is still there, of course — the penalty shootout miss against Germany in the Euro ’96 semifinal that ended England’s hopes of a first major title since the 1966 World Cup. Almost three decades on, despite reaching two finals and a semifinal in his four major tournaments as manager, the shadow hangs over Southgate.

“It still gets brought up all the time, particularly from media outside of England,” a source close to Southgate told ESPN. “He’ll never fully shake it off.”

If England beat Spain in Sunday’s Euro 2024 final in Berlin, Southgate will almost certainly be headed for Buckingham Palace to be knighted by King Charles III to become “Sir Gareth.” Less than three weeks ago, he was being pelted with plastic beer glasses by England’s disgruntled supporters after a goalless draw against Slovenia in the group stage, but Southgate knows all about the extreme highs and lows of football life.

Not long after his penalty miss in 1996, Southgate agreed to take part in a TV ad for the Pizza Hut restaurant chain in the U.K. that played on his spot-kick failure. In the commercial, he meets former England players Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle — who both missed in a penalty shootout loss to Germany at the 1990 World Cup — for pizza, and spends the meal being mocked by Pearce and Waddle. For most of the scene, Southgate is wearing a brown paper bag over his head to highlight his desperation for anonymity.

It can be excruciating to watch, but it is also an example of Southgate’s sense of humour and level-headedness. Yet when asked about the penalty miss nearly two decades later, the scars were clearly still raw.

“It affected me massively afterwards and it still does to this day,” Southgate told FourFourTwo in 2012. “Every single day now, when I walk down the street, it is always mentioned to me. Of course, it is annoying. When you have played for 20 years and that is the first thing people think about you, it is a bit of a downer.”

Nowadays, Southgate is said by sources to be “relaxed and philosophical” about his penalty miss. It probably helps that England have had success in shootouts since he took over as manager in 2016, beating Colombia at Russia 2018 and Switzerland at Euro 2024. The only blot on the copybook was the defeat on penalties to Italy in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley.

But why should a missed penalty in 1996 even matter 28 years later? For Southgate, winning on Sunday and would be the crowning moment of his career, but he would also get his hands on the trophy that evaded him and England all those years ago. There would be a sense of his football journey going full circle, in Germany rather than against Germany — this is also England’s first major final appearance at a tournament they didn’t host — but he won’t be quibbling over such minor details if England become European champions.

Beyond being able to bury the memory of Euro ’96, Southgate would also secure the love and affection he feels he has largely been denied. The exception to that presumed coldness from fans was a few heady weeks in 2018 when he took England to the World Cup semifinals — a month in which fans all over England bought navy blue waistcoats in tribute to his outfit of choice during the tournament.

Throughout his time in charge, Southgate has had to deal with being booed by supporters after defeats and criticism from all areas for his team selection and tactics. In recent months, sources have said that he’s grown tired of the criticism and negativity, and both could yet see him leave his post after the Euros, whether England lift the trophy or not. After almost eight years in the job, a period in which Southgate has been expected to build a winning team while also acting as the voice of the English Football Association and all kinds of non-football issues, the strain is beginning to show.

“We all want to be loved, right?” Southgate said after Wednesday’s 2-1 win in the semifinal against Netherlands. “When you are doing something for your country and you are a proud Englishman, when you don’t feel that back and all you read is criticism, it is hard.”

Four days earlier, after the penalty shootout victory against Switzerland in the quarterfinal, Southgate spoke again about the frustrations of the job and its draining effects. “Every now and then surely there has to be some enjoyment in this job,” he said. “I love the players and sharing that moment with them, but I can’t deny when things get as personal as it has it does hurt.

“I don’t think it is normal to have beer thrown at you. It’s been an unusual environment to operate in.”

One friend of Southgate has told ESPN that the one quality of the England manager that supporters underestimate is his “genuine care for his players and his staff.” Making the England squad something players wanted to be part of was Southgate’s priority when he took charge in 2016, shortly after a dismal European Championship campaign. England were eliminated by Iceland in the round of 16 of that tournament in France, during which the atmosphere within the camp was so suspicious and defensive that one player even refused to answer a news conference question about who was winning the intra-squad’s darts competition.

Southgate changed the mood and looked to the future by making big calls on player selection. He ended Wayne Rooney’s international career and omitted one senior player from his squad for Russia 2018 because of concerns that he would be, according to a source, “a pain in the arse” if he wasn’t selected to play. His tough streak — here he credits assistant manager Steve Holland for making him realise that planning for the future must also deliver success in the present — has seen him also drop Joe Hart, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish from tournament squads.

Southgate has also belied his reputation as a cautious, risk-averse coach by giving international debuts to teenagers including Jude Bellingham, Jadon Sancho and Kobbie Mainoo. When criticised for taking too long to make tactical changes in games at Euro 2024, he has silenced the doubters by getting it right when he finally does act. England’s semifinal winner against the Dutch was scored by Ollie Watkins and created by Cole Palmer — two substitutes who had been sent on by Southgate with less than 10 minutes still to play. Ivan Toney also made a decisive contribution in the round-of-16 win over Slovakia after coming off the bench.

Maybe Southgate and his players have ridden their luck in Germany, but Southgate would argue that luck is rooted in eight years of work and preparation. Southgate could even claim that he’s due some good fortune after being bold enough to take that penalty, and miss it, back in 1996. But while that painful memory will never leave him, even if he walks out of Berlin’s Olympic Stadium with a winners’ medal on Sunday, Southgate has not allowed it to shape the rest of his career.

“A sports psychologist once said that only an idiot would replay his misses in his mind,” Southgate said when asked about the penalty miss. “And I am not an idiot.”

Southgate is certainly not that. He may be unloved and underestimated by some, but his calm, measured approach to the England job has transformed the Three Lions from perennial failures to genuine challengers. And by doing so, he is no longer that guy who missed that penalty once upon a time. He’s the guy who made England’s men competitive again.