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This football publication is oddly dull, yet strangely captivating. Even title causes confusion. Dear England currently names a popular theatrical production, an future TV show, and a public letter written by the manager in 2021.

This edition of Dear England is not formally related to those. It represents an peculiar entry in the expanding Dear England universe, a book about leadership: a traditionally dull top-level coach trope that the author sticks to relentlessly, using the words “leadership”, “guiding” or “management” at least 500 times across the book’s entirety.

Inquiries Posed

“What defines a leader? What is the role of a leader? And what do leaders know?” Southgate inquires early on, setting out his stall, but stopping short to explore “Why are leaders?”, topics presumably saved for a second book.

Beyond that, this publication features a notable absence in the middle. It’s a venture in subtly confrontational personal vindication, in nearly but not entirely expressing the real point, jumping skillfully from unresolved issue to raw emotion across a series of pie charts, management jargon and references about Thomas Cromwell.

Engagement

Engaging with the text is like eavesdropping on your loved ones having a polite but profoundly personal argument in the nearby area while you’re trying to concentrate on a professional workshop named “Numerous Justifications for My Ultimate Victory”. But it is also impossible to disengage, as Southgate keeps drifting near to a topic you truly want to learn about, before unexpectedly changing tack.

Revelations

Readers will find inevitably attention-grabbing disclosures in publications like these, such is the intense interest with England managerdom. The best instances are: Southgate made up his mind he was absolutely going to resign as England manager after spectators threw beer glasses at him at the Euros; he almost chose to withdrawing from the game at the interval against the Bulgarian team in 2019 after his squad members were subjected to racism; he introduced the approach of dedicated restart experts and everyone in the top division is now copying him; he has now misplaced his enthusiasm for soccer, a surprising revelation casually mentioned in a brief section at the final part.

Leading England through a era of rage, hope, political ferment and pandemic restrictions was a brutal journey. The wounds are obviously still fresh.

Generic Content

Otherwise, the content is saturated with an AI-style word-sludge of commonplace leadership chat. Copies of this book were provided with journalists under confidentiality clauses before launch, presumably out of concern someone might disclose that “challenging discussions can, by their nature, be difficult”, that you should always look before you leap, that guidance takes place where change combines with empathy.

Genuine Feeling

There is however authentic feeling within. Managing England through a era of rage, aspiration, political ferment and lockdown was a brutal experience. The wounds are evidently still raw, albeit expressed in a buzzword-filled reinterpretation of the standard football manager narrative: how my decisions were correct about all matters all along.

Detailed Instances

The publication’s introductory section, Trojan-horsed as thrilling accounts of the deciding game of the tournament, is entirely focused on how effective the manager really was at tactical substitutions (the big criticism of Southgate centering on he was not good at altering the lineup). Later, he delves into great depth about how he managed the championship match of 2021 perfectly – specifically the losing spot-kick decider – because he complied with a predetermined process, which implies that bringing on young players at the last moment to take the biggest attempt of their existence was sensible and correct.

That approach was confirmed by a winning tiebreaker against Switzerland in a subsequent competition after a match where England spent 120 minutes looking as if they were attempting to wear a pullover the wrong way round. “Our dominance in that tiebreaker was truly exciting,” he states, amid comparing the performance to US Navy Seals killing Osama bin Laden. Goodness.

Missed Opportunities

When we approach to a disclosure, he retreats from naming names or sharing the details. We learn there were problematic England players who required more attention, possibly because they were indulged during the beginning of their time in football. But as you anticipate eagerly, he is already diverting into something called The Culture Code, which claims that instead of a collection of qualities or ideals, organizational ethos is in fact a phenomenon that is created by, unfortunately, please, we’ve heard enough.

Notable Sections

Included in the better sections are when he writes about the gradual process of developing mental toughness in the next generation, or how he tried to articulate national identity more clearly and more constructively than anyone else in the limelight. Most impressively, there is a genuinely gripping narrative of that distressing night in the Bulgarian capital where England’s players of color were targeted with hatred (and subsequently protected robustly by their leader).

Sincere Finale

Perhaps the most emotional segment {comes|arrives|appears