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This soccer book is curiously uninspiring, yet strangely captivating. Its title is confusing. Dear England already is used by a successful theatrical production, an forthcoming television program, and a open letter penned by the manager in 2021.

This version of Dear England is not formally connected to those. It stands as an oddity in the expanding Dear England universe, a book about guidance: a classically dull elite football manager theme that Southgate adheres to doggedly, relying on the words “leader”, “leading” or “management” a minimum of 500 times across the book’s entirety.

Questions Raised

“Who are the leaders? What actions do leaders take? What insights do leaders have?” Southgate inquires at the outset, setting out his position, but choosing not to explore “Why are leaders?”, themes probably set aside for a follow-up publication.

Additionally, this publication features a notable absence throughout. It’s an attempt in passive-aggressive self-justification, in coming close without actually stating the actual thing, jumping adeptly from unresolved issue to fresh pain across a series of data visualizations, management jargon and discussions about 16th-century statesmen.

Immersion

Going through the book is like eavesdropping on your family members having a polite but deeply felt argument in the next room while you’re attempting to focus on a professional workshop titled “112 Reasons Why Naturally I Had the Last Laugh”. But it is also impossible to stop reading, as the author keeps coming close to something you truly desire to hear about, before suddenly shifting focus.

Disclosures

The book contains always controversial revelations in works like these, such is the intense fascination with leading the national team. The most striking instances encompass: Southgate made up his mind he was definitely going to step down as England manager after fans tossed cups at him at the tournament; he almost chose to forfeiting the game at mid-match against the Bulgarian team in 2019 after his team were racially abused; he invented the approach of set-piece coaches and all teams in the Premier League is now copying him; he has now abandoned his enthusiasm for football, a shocking admission thrown away in a short passage at the end.

Leading England through a era of anger, hope, turmoil and pandemic restrictions was a harsh experience. The scars are obviously still fresh.

Commonplace Material

In other sections, the narrative is saturated with an AI-style verbal clutter of standard guidance discourse. Review editions of this book were shared with critics under confidentiality clauses before launch, presumably out of fear someone might reveal that “challenging discussions can, by their nature, be tough”, that you should always think before you act, that management takes place where transformation meets compassion.

Sincere Expression

The book contains nonetheless authentic feeling here. Leading England through a period of rage, hope, turmoil and confinement was a brutal journey. The bruises are evidently still unhealed, though conveyed in a terminology-heavy reimagining of the standard football manager narrative: why I was actually right about all matters throughout.

Detailed Instances

Even publication’s initial chapter, presented as thrilling recollections of the final of the tournament, is all about how good he actually was at player changes (the primary Southgate gripe centering on he wasn’t effective at substitutes). Further on, he explores great depth about how he managed the Euros final of 2021 impeccably – specifically the failed tiebreaker – because he complied with a set protocol, which must mean that bringing on inexperienced squad members at the last moment to take the crucial attempt of their careers was reasonable and right.

This was proved right by a successful shootout against Switzerland at a later tournament after a fixture where England spent 120 minutes looking as if they were striving to wear a pullover the inside out. “Our dominance in that penalty decider was simply thrilling,” Southgate writes, in between equating the showing to US Navy Seals killing a notorious figure. Goodness.

Missed Opportunities

When we do get close to a disclosure, the manager retreats from naming names or providing the juice. We hear there were challenging England individuals who insisted on more attention, maybe because they were pampered early in their professional journeys. But as you expect expectantly, Southgate is already veering off into something called a leadership concept, which asserts that instead of a grouping of attributes or principles, team environment is in fact something that is formed by, alas, stop, no more.

Highlights

Among the more compelling sections are when the author explores about the incremental method of fostering resilience in young people, or how he attempted to define Englishness more clearly and more helpfully than any other figure in the spotlight. Best of all, there is a genuinely compelling account of that distressing evening in Sofia where England’s black players were subjected to vile treatment (and afterwards supported forcefully by their leader).

Sincere Finale

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