A Study in Passive-Aggressive Self-Defense

This football publication is curiously dull, yet strangely irresistible. Even title raises questions. Dear England already is used by a popular theatrical production, an future television program, and a national address penned by Gareth Southgate in 2021.

This iteration of Dear England is not officially tied to those. It stands as an peculiar entry in the expanding Dear England universe, a volume about leadership: a typically dull elite football manager subject that Southgate follows doggedly, relying on the words “leader”, “guiding” or “leadership” at least 500 times across 336 pages.

Themes Posed

“What defines a leader? What is the role of a leader? What knowledge do leaders possess?” he asks early on, outlining his argument, but stopping short to address “How are leaders?”, questions likely saved for a follow-up publication.

Beyond that, this publication contains a notable absence in the middle. It’s an attempt in indirectly hostile self-defense, in coming close without actually expressing the actual thing, skipping adeptly from unresolved issue to unscabbed wound across a series of pie charts, business clichés and discussions about 16th-century statesmen.

Immersion

Going through the book is like overhearing your loved ones having a controlled but deeply felt argument in the next room while you’re trying 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 approaching to something you truly wish to hear about, before unexpectedly shifting focus.

Disclosures

The book contains inevitably attention-grabbing disclosures in works like these, due to the peeled-eyeball obsession with the role of England manager. The most notable ones are: Southgate decided he was definitely going to resign as England manager after supporters tossed cups at him at the tournament; he came very close to forfeiting the game at half-time against the Bulgarian team in 2019 after his team were racially abused; he pioneered the idea of set-piece coaches and everyone in the English football is now copying him; he has now lost his passion for football, a surprising confession thrown away in a brief section at the end.

Leading England through a time of rage, optimism, political ferment and lockdown was a harsh ordeal. The scars are evidently still raw.

Predictable Elements

Otherwise, the text is overrun with an computer-generated linguistic mush of commonplace leadership chat. Copies of this publication were distributed with reviewers under non-disclosure agreements ahead of publication, presumably out of concern someone might reveal that “challenging discussions can, by their inherent quality, be difficult”, that you should always think before you act, that leadership happens where transformation combines with understanding.

Emotional Core

The book contains nonetheless genuine emotion here. Leading England through a time of anger, hope, political ferment and pandemic restrictions was a brutal experience. The scars are evidently still unhealed, though expressed in a jargon-laden reinvention of the standard coach story: why I was actually right about everything from the start.

Notable Cases

The book’s introductory section, presented as thrilling memories of the final of the tournament, is completely dedicated to how successful the manager really was at player changes (the major Southgate gripe revolving around he wasn’t effective at making changes). Subsequently, he delves into great depth about how he handled the deciding game of 2021 perfectly – specifically the losing penalty shootout – because he adhered to a set protocol, which suggests that bringing on young players in the closing stages to take the crucial shot of their existence was reasonable and correct.

This was confirmed by a victorious shootout against Switzerland four years later after a fixture where England spent 120 minutes looking as if they were trying to don a sweater the backwards. “Our commanding performance in that penalty decider was truly exciting,” the author notes, amid likening the showing to special forces eliminating a high-profile target. Goodness.

Missed Opportunities

On the occasions we approach to a revelation, he retreats from naming names or providing the substance. We hear there were problematic England individuals who demanded more focus, maybe because they were indulged at the start of their professional journeys. But as you lean forward hopefully, the author is quickly veering off into a topic called a leadership concept, which states that as opposed to a assemblage of characteristics or values, team environment is in fact a phenomenon that is developed by, unfortunately, stop, that’s sufficient.

Strengths

Included in the more compelling parts are when Southgate discusses about the gradual nature of building mental toughness in young people, or how he sought to describe national identity more coherently and more positively than any other figure in the public eye. The standout section, there is a truly absorbing account of that distressing evening in the Bulgarian capital where England’s black players were subjected to vile treatment (and subsequently defended robustly by their coach).

Sincere Finale

Possibly the most sincere part {comes|arrives|appears