If football is coming home, then England boss Gareth Southgate should be applauded for the role he has played.
In fact, he probably gave it a lift home even though it meant driving 10 miles out of his way.
The second of those sentences is taken from one of the excellent #GarethSouthgateWould tweets about this affable man who, with only three years’ top-flight coaching experience, has achieved what Sven-Goran Eriksson, Fabio Capello, Steve McClaren and Roy Hodgson could not despite more than 80 between them.
He has not just guided England to a World Cup semi-final, but helped fans fall head over heels for his team too.
“They have suffered,” defender Kyle Walker said on Monday.
“We’ve been trying to put smiles back on faces, and hopefully make everyone fall back in love with England.”
And if it has been a long journey for the fans, the players also appear to have rediscovered their passion.
“Previously when we came to play for England, it was a national team, now it’s like a club,” added Walker.
“We used to go and train and then sit and stare at the same four walls. Now we’re in all of each other’s rooms. That would not have happened previously and it’s all credit to the gaffer.”
Reigniting that feeling of pride among players and supporters has not happened by accident – it is the result of a clear vision and a cool head.
Behind closed doors at the Football Association, Southgate embarked on a plan to give every department a clean slate.
When he took the job in 2016, he asked staff in all areas – from captain to communications officer – what approach they would take were they starting from scratch.
The answers he got underpinned a policy which has brought the team closer to the public than it has been at any time since Euro ’96.
And appreciation levels have reached the stage where there was a bizarre Southgate lookalike in the stands as England defeated Sweden on Saturday.
Allowing the players to be themselves
Over the past few weeks I have asked Southgate about jogging, fashion and his failure to listen to a single episode of the 5 live World Cup Daily podcast.
He has smiled politely and answered honestly through the sort of questions it would not have been possible to ask his predecessors. He even had half a chuckle when I mentioned Euro ’96.
After that question, I vowed not to ask him about penalties again.
“I will believe it when I see it,” he smiled.
Southgate has also been able to persuade his players to open up around microphones, cameras and notepads.
The candour has been such that defender Danny Rose felt able to talk about the way Southgate reacted to his revelation about his struggles with depression.
“We went for a walk around the grounds in the hotel in Leeds before the Costa Rica warm-up game,” said Rose.
“He was great. We spent 10 minutes just walking and he had some nice words to say to me.”
That insight is priceless, because those who have depression can empathise, and those who do not can sympathise.
“The greatest thing of all is Southgate has got the players to talk about themselves, which has helped us to like them as people,” said Michael Caulfield, who was Southgate’s sports psychologist when he was manager at Middlesbrough, on BBC Radio 5 live.
“We now know what they are and what they stand for. They are just like us, but better at football.”
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