Gareth Southgate Is The Hero And That Could Change Everything

England are about to kick off their newest World Cup nightmare. Or will it be something better this time? I think it might.

The reason is to do with player psychology. One part of Joseph Campbell’s “hero's journey” is what he calls refusal of the call. Early in the narrative, the budding adventurer shows he can’t, won’t or doesn't want to take up the challenge. He's reluctant. We see it in Luke Skywalker telling Obi-Wan he “can’t get involved” because of his farming and familial duties at the beginning of Star Wars. In Bruce Lee’s break out role in the 1971 film The Big Boss, he plays a man who repeatedly refuses to be provoked into violence despite possessing supreme martial arts skill. Having promised his mother he wouldn’t fight anyone, he clutches an amulet around his neck every time he needs to resist. (The story doubtless served to construct Lee himself as a hero.) Here, humility grants a paradoxical power to the protagonist.

Southgate refused the call. Well, he showed supreme reluctance to answer it. Virtually all previous England managers, perhaps with the exception of Roy Hodgson, have seemed personally ambitious. Some, like Sam Allardyce, didn’t just not refuse the call, they openly lobbied for it (in Powerpoint).

When Allardyce was sacked in 2016, Southgate inherited the role with serious reluctance. That he accepted it in the end came across as not due to his own glory hunting but because he actually thought it was best for the team. His humble, thoughtful demeanour is a far cry from the cosmopolitan glitz of Sven-G?ran Eriksson and Fabio Capello or the alpha cockiness of Don Revie or Allardyce.

I think the players intuitively grasp that this time, they don’t need to be the heroes – with all the pressure that involves – because they are led by one. They will play for him in a way they haven’t for previous coaches. They’ll be fearless, less burdened by history. You heard it here first folks. England will win World Cup 2018.*

*I’m only half joking.