Gareth Southgate insists he must ‘support’ Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood after sending England pair home for breaching quarantine guidelines

Gareth Southgate says he will “support” Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood rather than condemn them, because he is aware how “intense” the criticism they face will be, especially for players so young.

The duo were sent home from the England squad for breaching Uefa Covid-19 protocols by meeting girls at the team hotel in Reykjavik and will now miss Tuesday’s Nations League game away to Denmark. It is the latest controversy to affect this group after Harry Maguire’s arrest in Greece and the fight between Raheem Sterling and Joe Gomez last year, inviting questions about players’ discipline.

While Southgate insisted that the players’ youth – Foden is 20 and Greenwood 18 – is no excuse for the behaviour, he was conscious of how strongly they’ll be criticised outside of the squad. Manchester United and Manchester City already used much stronger terms about their players than the England manager, with both pointedly criticised by their clubs.

Southgate nevertheless said that he would not be restoring any kind of code of conduct because it doesn’t allow the flexibility often required on “things which have lots of grey areas”. He was only made aware of the controversy – which was first reported by Icelandic press – two hours before training on Monday morning. Many of the players didn’t know until they realised their two team-mates weren’t there. It was all the more frustrating to Southgate because the players had been given a talk on rules on that very Sunday, which had been marked for downtime. While he made his disappointment clear to Foden and Greenwood, and the two were said to be contrite, the England boss insisted he was not going to go overboard.

“I think I’m very conscious that these two boys are going to walk into something that’s going to be very intense and very difficult for them or their age to deal with,” Southgate said.

“So, whether people like it or not, I’ve got to try and support them through that and I’ve got to try and not add to how difficult their situation is going to be.

“That said, I’m very clear with them and I will be very clear with them on my feelings, and how they need to respond to how they need to react.

“But I think that balance is important and they are two very young players, and you know that I’m very conscious of that.”

Southgate was directly asked whether there is a danger he will be seen as a soft touch, especially after initially including Maguire for these two matches, despite his incident in Greece.

“Well, I don’t think I can be responsible for discipline when players are not with us. We then have to make decisions on how we approach it. I think whenever there have been issues, whether it’s been as an Under-21 coach or senior coach, we’ve dealt with them internally, so I think we’ve been very strict and firm.

“I think we like to have a good relationship with the players, but the players that have worked with me for a long time know I’m not afraid to make tough calls, so no, I don’t agree that is the case.”

Such an approach is also why he does not feel it is useful to have a code of conduct.

“I don’t believe it’s necessary, because if any breach happens then we will deal with it anyway. I don’t think having a code of conduct would actually act as any more of a deterrent than dealing with each case on its individual merits.

“I think everything that has happened in our period of time has been dealt with firmly and I think that’s the right way to do it, because if you start to have a code of conduct you can get stuck in a corner on things which have lots of grey areas.

“This is very clear. There’s been a breach of the Covid guidelines, the two lads have to be separated from the rest of the team and they have to go home. End of story.

“Everybody has to understand their responsibility. The whole country knows this has been a difficult period for young people and young people are going to make more mistakes than older people. Everybody has a responsibility with this virus to play their part. That is why we have taken the decision that we have. We have operated an incredible procedure, really, for 10 days to keep all the players together. 

“They have been tested four times; we have operated in the hotels, we have been in in our own separate areas. We have kept that secure. That was important, not only for our own wellbeing, but to get these games played. It has been such a massive operation across Europe. I think the responsibilities are very clear.”