Euro 2024, taking place in Germany from 14 June 2024 is set to dominate the sporting calendar this year. England must count as one of the favourites to lift the trophy in Berlin not only because of the amazing world class players such as Kane and Bellingham on which Gareth Southgate can rely but also because Southgate himself, has proved himself to be an exceptional manager.

In anticipation of this, I spent the first evening of the New Year watching Dear England at the Prince Edward Theatre in London which is all about Southgate and the way that he changed the whole culture around the England team. The play starts in that dark period in September 2016 when England had lost to Iceland in Euro 2016 and Sam Allardyce had just resigned after one match in charge. The FA appointed Southgate on a temporary basis after his success with the under 21’s.  The FA and England team were in disarray, ridiculed and mocked and the relationship between the team and fans at an all time low. 

The play shows the systemic changes that Southgate brought to the England team along with the calm leadership, psychological support and removal of the fear of failure that players used to feel when playing for England.   His appointment of psychologist Pippa Grange to input at training sessions, encouraging players to face their fears and open up to each other is at first mocked by those at the FA, some of the coaches and by some of the players but slowly the players start to open up, share their personal stories via the media to help build the bridge between the team and the fans  and develop psychological resilience. Southgate, presented as haunted by his own penalty miss in Euro 1996 is shown to be relentless in developing a high-performance culture and changes his players from entitled, arrogant kids burdened by a fear of failure and the pressure of expectation into a hungry, confident, humble team playing for the love of the game.

Pippa’s influence is to get the players to sit together in small groups, not grouped by their clubs and share their life experiences and anxieties which will build trust on the pitch and give them a better understanding of each other.

The Olivier Award winning writer, James Graham originally conceived the play would be in 3 acts, the World Cup 2018 in Moscow, the 2020 European Championship at Wembley with the final part charting the moment when Southgate’s rejuvenated England would storm to victory in Qatar in 2022.  You will recall that England went out in the quarter finals in Qatar 2022 so the play doesn’t quite get the heroic end that you are rooting for and suffers a little for this. However, it does remind you that Southgate has taken England to the semi-finals, finals and quarter finals of the last three tournaments the country has competed in and made me feel that this year could be our moment. 

The play is about so much more than football. It describes the pressures of elite support and the role of the England team in the national psyche and explores what it is to be English in these times. It particularly explores masculinity, emotional intelligence and leadership as well as how to build a team culture.

Joseph Fiennes, acting royalty, gives the most incredible performance as Southgate capturing the decency and integrity of the man along with all his desire to make this England team, a team to be proud off both on and off the pitch. It is not just an impersonation, but he encapsulates his whole speech and personality.  Gina McKee is also engaging as Pippa Grange and the cast particularly those who play the footballers are well cast.

The staging cleverly captures the football action as well as the tension of a penalty shoot-out. It also showcases some of the moments which are now ingrained in popular culture including the Fortnite dances, the inflatable unicorns in the swimming pool, the infamous waistcoat, Whole Again/Football’s Coming Home Again and of course, Sweet Caroline.

There are some jarring notes as the play touches on sexism and racism but doesn’t explore these in any detail and some of the players are merely simplistic caricatures of footballers and not explored in any depth.  The second half does start to develop some of the players such as Harry Kane, Rashford and Sterling. We seem them taking the penalties and the tension and elation it brings. Southgate’s story comes full circle when he is comforting Harry Kane about the penalty miss against France, knowing the heartbreak and scrutiny it brings.

Above all, the play makes us remember that in Southgate we have someone who will try to explore everything to bring success to England. A man who has transformed the reputation of English football and the pride the players have in representing their country.  Being the England coach, particularly in a tournament year, is about so much more than tactics.  Southgate has shown that he has all the right attributes as a proven man manager and winning Euro 2024 would be the fairytale ending he deserves.

I would highly recommend seeing the play which ends its theatre run on 13 January 2024 but, as part of the National Theatre Live, can be seen at local cinemas from 25 January.

And let’s get behind Southgate and the team for Euro 2024 and feel grateful we have him because decency, composure and success were hard to come by before he was appointed. Let’s create a summer to remember -because football has to come home at some point – surely?