It was surely the defining moment of Gareth Southgate’s year to date. The full-time whistle had blown on England’s 4-0 Nations League defeat against Hungary at Molineux on 14 June – the country’s heaviest home loss since 1928 – and the boos and howls from the stands were venomous.
What Southgate did next summed up his strength of character, his nobility. He walked on to the pitch to applaud the fans who were jeering. Perhaps he thought he had sufficient credit in the bank, some kind of insulation, what with being England’s most successful tournament manager of the modern era, of any era since Sir Alf Ramsey.
