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The soccer publication is oddly dull, yet curiously compelling. Even title raises questions. Dear England currently is used by a popular play, an forthcoming TV show, and a open letter penned by Gareth Southgate in 2021.

This version of Dear England isn’t officially tied to those. It represents an oddity in the expanding Dear England universe, a book about management: a typically uninspiring top-level coach subject that Southgate sticks to doggedly, employing the words “leadership”, “guiding” or “management” a minimum of 500 times across the book’s entirety.

Questions Explored

“Who are the leaders? What is the role of a leader? And what do leaders know?” he asks in the opening, setting out his position, but declining to ask “How are leaders?”, questions presumably reserved for a second book.

Otherwise, this book has a book-shaped hole at its core. It’s a venture in passive-aggressive personal vindication, in nearly but not entirely expressing the underlying truth, skipping nimbly from unsettled score to fresh pain across a series of graphs, corporate platitudes and digressions about historical figures.

Engagement

Reading it is like listening to your family members having a mannered but deeply felt argument in the next room while you’re trying to concentrate on a professional workshop named “Countless Explanations for My Eventual Success”. But it is also impossible to stop reading, as Southgate keeps approaching to a topic you truly wish to discover, before abruptly changing tack.

Disclosures

There are always news headlines in works in this genre, explained by the rapt fascination with the role of England manager. The best examples are: Southgate made up his mind he was certainly going to resign as England manager after supporters hurled cups at him at the European Championship; he nearly decided to withdrawing from the game at mid-match against the Bulgarian team in 2019 after his team were subjected to racism; he pioneered the idea of set-piece coaches and the entire league in the top division is now copying him; he has now abandoned his passion for the sport, a shocking admission casually mentioned in a short passage at the end.

Leading England through a era of anger, aspiration, political ferment and pandemic restrictions was a harsh journey. The scars are evidently still unhealed.

Generic Content

Otherwise, the narrative is overrun with an robotic word-sludge of commonplace leadership chat. Review editions of this publication were provided with journalists under secrecy pacts prior to publication, presumably out of fear someone might reveal that “tough talks can, by their very essence, be challenging”, that you should always consider the consequences, that leadership occurs where change meets understanding.

Emotional Core

Readers will find however real feeling here. Managing England through a era of rage, optimism, political ferment and confinement was a brutal experience. The bruises are obviously still fresh, even if presented in a terminology-heavy reinvention of the traditional leader story: demonstrating my accuracy about everything from the start.

Specific Examples

The book’s initial chapter, disguised as thrilling memories of the championship match of the European Championship, is completely dedicated to how good Southgate really was at substitutes (the primary Southgate gripe revolving around he wasn’t good at altering the lineup). Subsequently, he goes into extensive analysis about how he handled the championship match of 2021 flawlessly – notably the failed tiebreaker – because he adhered to a established procedure, which implies that throwing on inexperienced squad members at the last moment to take the most important attempt of their lives was logical and accurate.

That approach was confirmed by a winning penalty decider against the Swiss team at a later tournament after a fixture where England spent the full duration looking as if they were attempting to wear a pullover the backwards. “The control we exerted in that tiebreaker was truly exhilarating,” Southgate writes, in between equating the showing to special forces killing Osama bin Laden. Dear me.

Missed Opportunities

When we come near to a disclosure, he backs away from naming names or providing the details. We learn there were problematic England players who insisted on more focus, possibly because they were indulged early in their time in football. But as you expect expectantly, he is already diverting into something titled a leadership concept, which claims that rather than a grouping of attributes or ideals, culture is in fact something that is formed by, gah, please, we’ve heard enough.

Highlights

Included in the better parts are when the author writes about the piecemeal nature of fostering fortitude in young people, or how he tried to articulate what it means to be English more clearly and more positively than any public personality in the limelight. Best of all, there is a truly gripping description of that traumatic night in the Bulgarian capital where England’s black players were viciously abused (and later defended vigorously by their leader).

Sincere Finale

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