In a time of national emergency, is it time for British PM Gareth Southgate? Many Britons seem to think so after the England manager wrote to supporters reminding them that the nation had come through “enormous challenges before.”
Southgate – who has seen his England squad’s plans torn up following the postponement of the 2020 Euro Football Championship due to the coronavirus pandemic – has written an inspiring open letter to fans.
The 49-year-old insists that it is not time for them as a football team to take “center-stage,” claiming that “the heroes will be the men and women who continue working tirelessly in our hospitals.”
Look out for each other. Please don’t suffer alone, and remember that our great country has come through these enormous challenges before – and, together, we will do so again.
Southgate’s missive has gone down so well on social media that maybe Boris Johnson should be getting slightly twitchy about his status as prime minister. The flood of responses was perfectly crystalized in one tweet that read: “Why does Gareth Southgate sound more like a prime minister than our prime minister does?!”
Those sentiments were repeated again and again on Twitter, with many suggesting that Johnson had not – so far – risen well to the task of navigating the British nation through the Covid-19 outbreak that has infected 3,269 people and caused 144 deaths in the UK.
After telling fans to follow the official guidelines for hygiene, Southgate summed up by expressing his hope that by the time his team play again, “we will be closer to each other than ever, and ready for the beautiful distraction that football can bring.”
Some critics of Johnson have accused his government of not giving enough reassurance to ordinary workers in the UK, many of whom now find themselves facing huge financial concerns, with the very real prospect of job losses as a result of the crisis.
Former Manchester United and England defender Gary Neville has opened his hotels to National Health Service (NHS) workers – free of charge – in an effort to help tackle the Coivid-19 outbreak. Neville revealed earlier this week that his two Manchester hotels will be closed to the public during the crisis, though staff will still be paid.
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