Gareth Southgate

[cromwell]

Well hasn't he played a blinder.
Not about the football, but about the politics that he has managed to drag into the game, as he thinks "It's about more than just football".
Well it may be for him but for a lot of people it really isn't.
Football has always been a release for most fans. Most of these fans back in the day were working class men who would work hard in poor conditions for five or five and a half days a week.
But Saturday afternoon was their time. Have a couple of pints and go to the match, sing, shout and go a bit mad. A release of tension, a release from the gring of the working week.
And it is still like that for most fans; a release. A day when the working week can be forgotten.

But oh no, here comes Mr Southgate and his plan to turn the national football team into a social justice project. It's anti-racism he says, not a political stand. To establish a more equal society, not a political stand.

I'm sorry, but this is manifestly rubbish. You can argue the racial aspect all day long, but in Dec 2020 Harry Kane's said "We have obviously done a lot with Black Lives Matter".
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 64831.html
BLM is a marxist political organisation that wishes to abolish capitalism and to defund the police; I don't think you could be much more politically controversial than that.
Similarly when Southgate talks of "A more equal society" he's not talking about politics? I think he is.

He's started off something he hasn't thought through. If I go and watch a Leeds match and the players take the knee what am I supposed to think? What are they doing here, trying to guilt trip me about my "white privilege"? Go to where I was brought up and try and find me one person there who had any sort of privilege; I'd love to see him do that.

So him and his bunch of multi-millionaire players can go on campaigning but I've turned off; and I don't think I'm the only one. Whatever the BBC's darling, Mr Southgate's intentions were, he's only made matters worse.

[Workingman]

So him and his bunch of multi-millionaire players can go on campaigning but I've turned off....

Me too, and we are not alone by any means.

I have been saying for ages that the constant pushing of these agendas are having the opposite effect to what is intended - they have become divisive and anything but inclusive.

Black Lives Matter by its very title and intent is racist as it excludes white, yellow, brown and any other coloured life. But if I change channels when these sporty types take the knee, and I do, then it is me who is a racist.

And "Taking the knee" definitely is a political gesture. It started in 2016 when NFL player, Colin Kaepernick, refused to stand for the US National Anthem in protest at police brutality and racism - IN THE UNITED STATES. It remains political to this day.

[miasmum]

Couldn't agree more.

Am I alone in thinking it almost feels contrived? Put the young Black lads on at the end, then if we miss the penalties, the racist thugs, that we know are a large part of the England fan base, will start shouting and low and behold a nice smoke screen to posture behind

[TheOstrich]

When you look back at Wembley, and Sunday night in general, it's becoming increasingly clear that there is something very, very nasty going down in society.

The mass break-in of "fans" (Hillsborough, anyone?); Dominic Matteo taking one look at the mayhem and actually leaving the ground; a steward reportedly with a knife held to his neck; Mike Tindall intervening in a fist-fight in the seats alongside him and Zara Phillips finishing up wiping blood off the seats ......

And yes, the racist element. Totally exacerbated by Southgate and the players with their BLM posturing. I don't care a fig what Mings thinks, it was - and is - blatant political posturing. OK, it's a gesture that will appeal to Labour and the woke metropolitan generation, but yer average England fan is not a woke metropolitan. As MM says, some are indeed the epitome of racist thugs, and Southgate and Co. have royally wound them up. Actually, Southgate & Co. have royally wound me up, and I don't even support or follow England!

As WM is fond of saying in political debate, they should "own it". It's a mess of their creation. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind and all that.
Let me be the first to say it - Southgate should be sacked.

[miasmum]

Ossie Hillsborough was the first thing I thought of

[Workingman]

I see that UEFA have opened proceedings..........

If there is consistency England should go the same way as Croatia, Hungary and Serbia with a big fine and also threatened with playing behind closed doors

FIFA might also want to get involved with the WC coming up.

[miasmum]

Please let it rule us out of hosting. At least something good will come out of it