Gareth Southgate may be England’s greatest ever manager. So why the hate?

He created an environment in which players could flourish yet Gareth Southgate has become a lightning rod for rage

Gareth Southgate during the press conference at Dusseldorf Arena

They have a word for it in German: der Briefcasetrainerparadigm, a phrase used to describe a person who is self-evidently good at what they do, but who is still universally regarded as a disaster.

OK, there is no such actual word word. The phrase “there’s a German word for it” is in itself a longstanding red flag, what the Germans call a Fake-Deutsche-Langeswort-Intro. But the concept of how exactly to define or put a scale on success feels very current as Gareth Southgate prepares his team to face Switzerland on Saturday evening in Düsseldorf.