Gareth Southgate’s reaction to the latest unwelcome off-field distraction landing in his in-tray was to describe the England manager’s job as “like no other in terms of what you have to deal with”.
Southgate can provide plenty of recent evidence to prove his point and was presented with yet another unsavoury exhibit as Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood were sent home from Iceland with serious blemishes against their fledgling international careers for flouting strict Covid-19 protocols.
Manchester City midfielder Foden, 20, and Manchester United forward Greenwood, 18, were withdrawn from England’s training session – and Tuesday’s Uefa Nations League game with Denmark in Copenhagen – for mixing outside the enforced restrictions around Southgate’s squad.
Southgate – backed up by strong condemnation from both Manchester City and Manchester United – described the pair as “naive” and the situation as “very serious”, using typically measured tones to disguise what must have been bitter disappointment.
He gave Foden and Greenwood their debuts in Iceland on Saturday only to see them fall at the first fence when it came to discipline away from the full squad, especially in the carefully policed environment governed by the global coronavirus crisis.
