Southgate calls for calm heads from England against Scotland
Gareth Southgate has revealed he used to be a Scotland fan as he prepares for the latest instalment of the Battle of Britain at Hampden. But the England manager said that thoughts the Three Lions might use the so-called friendly to experiment as “ridiculous”.
The prestige international friendly to celebrate Scottish football’s 150th anniversary will see a few changes from Southgate, but he will not be carried away. “You cannot overly experiment because that would be ridiculous,” Southgate said.
“We have got to be strong because they are a good team and we are coming into an environment where you have got to have the personality to play. We do want to find some things out as well.
But this will be something that is different to what all of those who were not in the last England vs Scotland encounter will not have faced.” Southgate was part of the last team to lose to Scotland in 1999 and winding the clock back further, it turns out he even used to cheer England’s traditional rivals on.
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“This is horrendous what I’m going to say here ahead of tomorrow, but I was supporting Scotland in the 1978 World Cup because obviously we hadn’t qualified,” the 53-year-old said. “They were a British team – I didn’t realise it all then.
“We weren’t in the World Cup in 1974, we weren’t in 1978, so you just got your sticker album and did what you did. I soon saw the error of my ways.”
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He added: “We know how important this is for us. I think the stories are handed down and the history is handed down. I think both teams recognise that. And both will be trying to find the right balance of competing and being composed.
“That’s always the big challenge on these sorts of days. Every England vs Scotland game are really intense encounters. They’ve always had good players. They’ve now got a very good team. They’re great occasions to be part of.”
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