Football is a game of opinions despite, or perhaps because of, there being so much that is unknown. Why does a manager pick a player or take them off? Why does a team spring forward in one half but retreat in another? Why does someone who misplaced a simple pass just moments before find the top corner in the next?
During England’s run to the final the debate over Gareth Southgate and his performance as manager has not stopped for a second. Most opinions, understandably, have been formed by what the eye can see. But what distant observers can never truly know or understand is what Southgate has done best, and that is managing the psychological side of the game.
The significance of strong mental preparedness as opposed to that of tactics or physical ability can be debated, but we can certainly look from the outside and see the effects during these Euros. Ollie Watkins’s ability to produce an elite finish after playing 30 minutes of football the entire tournament. Conor Gallagher leading the press with distinction to seal a victory over Slovakia having been substituted at half-time in his previous match. Each and every one of the penalties taken in Düsseldorf against Switzerland. The list goes on and every item has been key to England’s progress.
Professor Dave Collins is a fellow in human performance science at the University of Edinburgh, and director of the consultancy Grey Matters, where he has worked with 80 world and Olympic champions and is advising a number of Premier League footballers on their mental conditioning. He makes the point that, from the outside, no one can speak with authority on precisely what Southgate has done to build preparedness and resilience within his team but that, in general, three ideas are key.
“Firstly you need to have a shared mental model,” he says. “You need the squad to be prepared because you never know what’s going to happen. So, you need to be in a position where ‘we’re all in this together’, that you are able to handle whatever gets thrown at you from inside the tournament or, frankly, from the media outside. You want to get a mental model so everybody knows: this is what we’re going try and do.”
Second, everybody needs to know their role and to accept it. “There’s a holy trinity when you’re talking about roles and that is: clarity, acceptance and support,” Collins says. “Let’s say Ollie Watkins. Ollie must know what his role is, and be completely happy to accept and fulfil that role. Meanwhile everybody else knows that about Ollie and are going to support Ollie in that role.
“The third thing is that you’ve spent enough time getting people to buy into the plans. That they’re not just shared, they’re accepted. That means the squad is thinking: ‘No one’s prepared as well as us, we’ve got all these special ideas, we’ve done this visual training, we’ve done this, we’ve done that, we’ve done the other; we’re the best, we’re there.’ What that does is it gives you a sort of protection. If you’re not flying well early, if the media are slagging you off, if people are being rude you can say: ‘We’re here, we’re all right, we’re confident.’”
Although the Football Association will not comment on England’s psychological preparedness, it seems plausible that it has effectively implemented Collins’ three rules. It perhaps even speaks directly to the third that England have travelled to Germany without a psychologist on the staff. The formerly influential Pippa Grange is not part of the setup but the principles she helped establish have now been long embedded, starting at the World Cup in 2018.
We know something of the support networks that exist within the squad, from the establishment of a cross-age leadership group (members: Harry Kane, Kyle Walker, Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham) to the decision to break down hierarchies as much as possible within the staff, with everyone dining in mixed groups and encouraged to look out for each other in whichever role they fulfil.
There are other aspects to England’s preparedness that may speak more to the preferences of the manager. A stress on the use of outside space, for example, not just so as to be removed from the hurly-burly of a tournament but for the proven benefits to wellbeing from being in nature. Equally, the importance of having time with family and friends is consistently stressed, on designated days when loved ones are invited into camp to socialise, and after each match.
The final consideration, then, is the leader themselves; the central conduit of any messaging and, ultimately, the embodiment of the values of a team. From the stream of supportive remarks made by the players during the toughest games (and the absence of anonymous briefing), Southgate clearly commands their respect, so they are more likely to follow his ideas and values.
Key to this is Southgate’s authenticity, that he is the man he says he is and proves it by his actions. “Good leaders are not chameleons, they are consistently themselves,” says Collins.
“There is a genuineness to them, but they also recognise that there’s different strokes for different folks and different approaches required for different contexts. Can you imagine Gareth giving the players a dressing down? Can you imagine him also saying: ‘It’s OK, you’re doing fine’? You can. He’s a good leader because he’s got flexibility, accountability and appropriateness.”
In Berlin, Southgate faces the toughest challenge of his life. And while no one can know for sure, experience suggests we can be confident that he and his team will be ready.
