From Jude Bellingham's wonder goal celebration to Gareth Southgate's Twitter ridicule: How communications affected England's Euro 2024 performance

For the first time in eight years, the England men’s football team have no manager. There are mixed feelings about Gareth Southgate’s decision to step down in the wake of defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 final. You can’t help but wonder how big a part the increasingly strained love affair between England’s fans and players has played in Southgate’s decision. And with that in mind, it’s worth reflecting on the low point of their recent lovers’ tiff - England’s round-of-16 showdown with unfancied Slovakia. 

With about 95 minutes on the clock and England facing an embarrassingly early exit from the tournament, right-back Kyle Walker stepped up to take a throw-in level with Slovakia’s penalty area. What followed was one of the greatest goals in the history of our national football team. As Walker’s long throw was flicked on, England prodigy Jude Bellingham shaped his body to attempt a highly ambitious bicycle kick. Seconds later, the ball was in the back of the net. 

A spectacular last-gasp equaliser keeping England’s chances alive - the perfect opportunity to reconnect with thousands of disgruntled fans in unified and unbridled joy. However, what followed appeared anything but joyous. 

England’s football fans have been extremely vocal in their dissatisfaction with several performances this summer. For much of the tournament, an overwhelming cloud of negativity has hung over Southgate and his players. Fans have made their feelings known on the terraces – and in thousands of scathing, sometimes satirical, social media posts. 

Yes - any footballer would’ve struggled to contain their emotions after scoring a goal such as Bellingham’s against Slovakia. But wearing a look of steely defiance, he ran over to England’s fans and made a hand gesture mimicking someone chattering into his ear. Bellingham later said in a post-match interview some of England’s critics had been ‘talking rubbish’. 

Rather than offering an olive branch, Bellingham’s actions arguably risked adding fuel to an already fiery relationship between the nation’s players and fans. And from a communications perspective, both sides had contributed to what had grown into something of a strained relationship. 

It’s impossible to imagine that the huge volume of unrelenting criticism aimed at England’s players wasn’t getting to them. Ex-players whose words have real gravitas have called them out on TV, which would’ve really stung. Fans’ input has sometimes been less constructive, with Southgate bearing the brunt of a barrage of ridicule on X. 

Within reason, of course, pundits and fans are absolutely entitled to air their views in public. But it would be naïve to think those views – and how they’ve been expressed – haven’t been chipping away at England’s collective confidence and affecting their performance. 

That’s why it’s so important we think about how to communicate with colleagues. If a person is told they are useless enough times, they will start believing it and eventually stop trying. 

Everyone benefits when communication is strategic, not emotional. It pays to think about how your words and demeanour can drive positive changes in behaviour. You’re unlikely to get the best out of someone if you’re consistently negative about their performance. Remember - they’re likely, like England’s players, to be trying their best. Of course, there’s always room for constructive criticism, but sprinkling it with recognition of what people are doing well, or the positive progress they are making, goes a long way. 

The other side of the England coin was that some of their players’ messaging in response to criticism wasn’t in touch with how the fans – their stakeholders – were feeling. More than once, it was suggested that supporters shelve their negative feelings and blindly get behind the team. However, a message of defiance like Bellingham’s after the Slovakia win is rarely an effective way to get people to buy in. 

The consensus outside the camp is that England weren’t collectively equal to the sum of their world-class parts. However, fans were more inclined to get behind the players when they sincerely acknowledged their underperformance and empathised with their supporters. Many have spent big to follow their multi-millionaire heroes to Germany. Any insinuation they’d been ‘talking rubbish’ was never likely to get them on board. 

Despite everything, Bellingham did outline in his interview after the Slovakia game how hard the players were working to put on better performances for their fans. That’s a strong key message worth reinforcing in future communications.