{"text":[[{"start":9.6,"text":"Do you know who I feel sorry for? "},{"start":11.716999999999999,"text":"The National Theatre. "},{"start":13.184,"text":"Next March it opens a new run of Dear England, James Graham’s tribute to the England football manager Gareth Southgate. "},{"start":19.502,"text":"As things stand, the script will need the intervention of a sensitivity reader. "}],[{"start":24.18,"text":"Southgate’s star is falling. "},{"start":26.322,"text":"After England’s nil-nil draw against Slovenia on Tuesday, English fans booed and threw empty beer cups at him. "},{"start":32.376999999999995,"text":"This wasn’t defeat (England proceeded to the knockout stages of the European Championships); but it still felt like betrayal. "}],[{"start":39.6,"text":"Maybe the most bitter divorces follow the most intense love affairs. "},{"start":43.529,"text":"The British public once felt so let down by Tony Blair precisely because it had been so enamoured of him. "},{"start":48.984,"text":"So too with Southgate. "}],[{"start":51.08,"text":"He hasn’t been just another England manager struggling with the so-called impossible job. "},{"start":55.821999999999996,"text":"After taking charge in 2016, he became the sweetheart of the nation — or at least of its centrist dads. "},{"start":61.852,"text":"He showed that you can wear a waistcoat when you’re not at a wedding or a snooker table. "},{"start":65.857,"text":"Now he risks putting us off knitted polo shirts forever. "}],[{"start":70.09,"text":"Our love affair was born of a particular moment. "},{"start":72.994,"text":"By 2016, England fans had all hope squeezed out of them. "},{"start":76.887,"text":"Southgate used the low expectations to relax his players. "},{"start":80.504,"text":"“We really probably are not going to win this World Cup,” his character tells them in Dear England. "}],[{"start":86.39,"text":"It was also a moment when Conservative MPs were going gently insane, fuming about things like the BBC’s annual report having only one union jack. "},{"start":94.857,"text":"Southgate articulated a non-Brexity patriotism. "},{"start":98.037,"text":"He backed his players’ support for social change, writing: “I have never believed that we should just stick to football. ”"}],[{"start":104.85,"text":"Results were secondary, but good: England made the World Cup semi-finals and then the final of Euro 2020. "},{"start":111.37899999999999,"text":"They even won a penalty shootout. "}],[{"start":114.36,"text":"The problem is that fans now want more. "},{"start":117.027,"text":"They’re no longer satisfied by players who take the knee and frolic in swimming pools on inflatable unicorns. "},{"start":122.694,"text":"They’re ready to win. "},{"start":124.124,"text":"And they suspect Southgate is tactically inadequate. "}],[{"start":127.43,"text":"England have the players of the season for Europe’s top two leagues: Manchester City’s Phil Foden and Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham. "},{"start":134.347,"text":"Yet their build-up play has been as slick as Joe Biden’s debate answers; their passes as accurately targeted as Donald Trump’s fundraising emails. "},{"start":141.739,"text":"We’ve gone from Dear England to dear me. "}],[{"start":144.91,"text":"Still, the abuse hurled at Southgate is part of a sad trend. "},{"start":148.877,"text":"In this week’s TV debate between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, an audience member asked mockingly: “Are you two really the best we’ve got to be the next prime minister of our great country? ”"},{"start":158.244,"text":"Does everything have to be so coarse, so complaining? "}],[{"start":162.34,"text":"But it’s not over. "},{"start":163.907,"text":"At the 1990 World Cup, England drew their first game. "},{"start":167.524,"text":"The Daily Mail asked: “Have you ever witnessed a more embarrassing exhibition of wasted energy and spilled adrenalin in the history of ball games? ”"},{"start":174.542,"text":"England went on memorably to reach the semis. "},{"start":177.322,"text":"Their manager, Bobby Robson, ended up knighted and adored. "}],[{"start":182.08,"text":"Southgate’s team may not be as bad as they have looked. "},{"start":185.334,"text":"In three matches at the Euros, they have given away no clear-cut chances from open-play; the only goal they’ve conceded is a 30-yard strike. "},{"start":192.80200000000002,"text":"“Defences, rather than attacks, tend to win tournaments, and England have actually been very solid,” tactical analyst Michael Cox has said. "}],[{"start":201.53,"text":"Like Robson, Southgate has maintained his dignity. "},{"start":204.997,"text":"While the Netherlands’ coach Ronald Koeman has blamed his players for not running in the right positions, Southgate has only blamed himself. "},{"start":211.702,"text":"On Tuesday, the beer cups landed near him only because he had gone over to thank the fans. "},{"start":216.582,"text":"You feel sure he will never sell out. "},{"start":218.637,"text":"But if the team loses on Sunday against Slovakia, it’s possible that neither will Dear England. "}],[{"start":223.7,"text":""}]],"url":"https://creatives.ftacademy.cn/album/161090-1719671676.mp3"}