13 September 2023 , 17:14
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Gareth Southgate has been told he has acted in a "cowardly" fashion by calling out Harry Maguire's critics without naming names.
Manchester United centre-back Maguire has continued to feature for his country despite struggling for minutes at club level. The 30-year old played 90 minutes against Ukraine and 45 against Scotland, but scored an own goal at Hampden on Tuesday night. After England's 3-1 win in Glasgow, during which Maguire was subject to ironic cheers, Southgate came to his player's defence.
However, former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan took issue with the England boss' words, given the source of some of the abuse of Maguire. “From a Scotland fan’s point of view, I get it and I have absolutely no complaints, but it is a consequence of ridiculous treatment of him for a long period of time, frankly," Southgate said“From a Scotland fan’s point of view, I get it and I have absolutely no complaints, but it is a consequence of ridiculous treatment of him for a long period of time, frankly," Southgate said
"I think our fans recognised that 'OK there might be a bit of heat from our supporters, but we're not going to have others getting into him'. But it is a joke. I have never known a player to be treated the way he is - not from the Scottish fans but by our own commentators, pundits, whatever it is. They have created something that is beyond anything I have ever seen. He has been an absolute stalwart for us in the second most successful England team in decades and he's been a key part of that."
Speaking on talkSPORT, though, Jordan took aim at the England boss. "Gareth aiming barbs at people who are faceless and can’t name, suggesting pundits and commentators are the reason for this is slightly cowardly, because he knows it is the fans," he said. "He knows ultimately it is the Man United fans who started this wildfire, the England fans have jumped on it and the Scotland fans think it is funny to do it in this particular game. The reality is he goes for a soft target and blames the media."
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Beyond this, Jordan also questioned why Southgate raised the subject at all in the light of England's victory. "You can turn around and diminish the argument by not having it and not giving it the credence, at the end of the day destructive voices in the background will only become louder and more vociferous if you amplify it," he said.
"There is an element of vitriol to Southgate in that mix as well. If there was a complete and utter buy in to Southgate this would be less of an issue as well."