England’s Jude Bellingham on the substitute’s bench before the 2026 FIFA World Cup European Qualifying, Group K match at Wembley Stadium, London. Picture date: Thursday November 13, 2025. (Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
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Since leaving his role as England boss, Sir Gareth Southgate has spent more time spinning philosophies than looking for work.
It should be expected that a man who had no real pedigree as a club manager but managed to capture the nation’s hearts with his understated leadership style would embrace his status as a cultural icon rather than a sporting star.
This month came the latest installment. He released a book: ‘Dear England: Lessons in Leadership’, which pushed the idea of Southgate as some beta-male icon who actually has the last laugh.
Earlier in the year, he gave a lecture dealing with masculinity and the toxic influences on young men.
Southgate’s pontificating provides an interesting contrast to the ongoing drama swirling around the England team he left behind, where Thomas Tuchel, who most certainly comes from the Alpha-male school of leadership, has been establishing some hard rules for his biggest stars.
Headlines roared when Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden were both declared fit but found themselves excluded from the squad last month.
The omission of Bellingham in particular was received with shock; it was the first time anyone had knocked back the Real Madrid midfielder since he emerged as a precocious 16-year-old at Birmingham City.
He is a player who is both a leader and someone who appears to suffer from main-character syndrome. A combination that hasn’t always resulted in him being the talisman the country desires.
His all-action style frequently pulls the team out of shape, and there have been some disastrous performances where he, Phil Foden, and Harry Kane all seemed to occupy the same space.
This mishmash of star names didn’t appear to be helped by the softly-softly approach Southgate was famed for.
His players clearly liked him, but whether they respected him enough to enable him to make hard decisions was another matter.
There were times when he looked almost afraid to remove Bellingham from the field. Yet the midlander’s shouty crotch-grabbing on-field antics were an uneasy fit for Southgate’s nice-guy culture.
The difference is that Tuchel is not a man who backs down from confrontation, regardless of reputation.
In Bellingham’s case, he arguably went too far. Earlier in the year, he was forced to apologise after making comments suggesting his mother found the midfielder’s behaviour “repulsive.”
He later said, “There is no problem with him, there is no problem with the character. Jude just has the edge, it is a very good thing because you need a certain edge to reach the heights that he reached at this young age. It is now necessary that we provide an environment to provide this edge for us in a positive way, and win football games, and help us win football games.”
It was refreshing that Tuchel had tackled the difficult subject and his actions afterwards showed how much more steel.
After returning Bellingham and Foden to the squad at the latest round of international fixtures, he was honest enough to admit the pair couldn’t fit into the same team.
“At the moment, if we keep the structure, they cannot play,” he told TalkSport.
“They can, but not in the structure, not for the balance that we developed and not for the structure that comes also with wingers, who are like specialists in their positions.”
The former Chelsea boss added that it wasn’t likely he’d choose five number 10s in his World Cup squad, and that anyone missing out will not be “because they don’t individually deserve it” but because he will “always do what’s best for winning”.
“We will always do what’s best for balance and we will try to keep the clarity, even if it means that we have to take tough decisions.
“We take tough decisions in any camp, and this will not change when we go to a tournament,” he added.
It’s hard to imagine Southgate taking such an approach. He once selected four right backs for a squad at the expense of midfielders and strikers.
NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND – JUNE 10: Thomas Tuchel, Head Coach of England reacts during the international friendly match between England and Senegal at City Ground on June 10, 2025 in Nottingham, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
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As pundit Jamie Carragher pointed out, Bellingham returns with both an incentive to perform well and an understanding that he is not undroppable.
“Back in the England squad, Jude Bellingham will now feel he has got something to prove. I think it was really good management, really strong management,” said the former Liverpool defender at the launch of a new Sky Bet/British Heart Foundation charity initiative.
“Jude Bellingham is one of the best players in European and world football. England cannot go to the World Cup without Jude Bellingham, but I actually admire what the manager has done.
“And it can work in the long run. Thomas Tuchel knows he does not need Jude Bellingham to win qualifying games and he can also send a message to Jude Bellingham, who is England’s biggest-named player.
“But that also sends a message to the rest of the England squad. If Jude Bellingham can be left out of the England squad, then so can anybody. Last time, he left Phil Foden out as well.”
Carragher highlighted the fact that Tuchel has form for taking on untouchables and it will be part of the German’s style as England boss.
“That is Thomas Tuchel’s way. He is going to ruffle a few feathers – he has done that at all the clubs he has been at. I think it was to be expected. We all love a manager standing up to the big-name players,” he added.
“He is trying to build this thing where it is not just about certain star players, it’s about the team. I am all for that. The great thing about the England team recently is that the likes of Elliot Anderson and Morgan Rogers have shown themselves capable of playing at this level in positions Bellingham plays in.”
It’s very different from Southgate, but it’s exactly what Bellingham, who’s been pretty spoiled up to this point, and England need.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakgarnerpurkis/2025/11/13/the-clear-sign-spoiled-jude-bellinghams-ego-has-been-checked/
