England fans may have turned on Jordan Henderson — but he still has Gareth Southgate

It was a character reference for a man who has become an ambassador of sorts for Saudi Arabia. The England faithful – or some of them, anyway – had turned on Jordan Henderson when he was booed off in Friday’s win over Australia. The England manager offered an endorsement of his vice-captain: not merely as a midfielder, either, but as a principled individual.

The Henderson of Al-Ettifaq, the man who used to support the NHS and the LGBTQ community instead plugging Saudi’s 2034 World Cup bid, stands accused of either being the opposite of the Liverpool incarnation or a figure whose decision to join the Saudi Pro League led him to become a public face of a repressive regime.

Gareth Southgate can see why many have a sense of disappointment, why there is a seeming contradiction. Yet he also argued that Henderson remains the same person, one who has helped create the right kind of culture with England.

“What I do understand is that people would feel that the decision Jordan would go and play there doesn’t align with his strong support of the LGBTQ community in the past,” he said. “I have not seen him comment anywhere differently. I don’t believe he is an individual whose values and principles have changed.

“I would back him against pretty much anyone in the country in terms of what he stands for and what he believes in but I accept that the decision to go and play there doesn’t align that. He understands that; he accepts that.”

But Southgate does not appreciate the jeers. “We have had a couple of incidents that I don’t understand because I don’t think any player wearing an England shirt warrants that,” he added. “I grew up seeing John Barnes receive that kind of criticism so that has never helped the team.”

But if others were booed for their skin colour, Henderson has brought a reaction with his apparent hypocrisy has drawn. Deliberately or otherwise, Southgate drew a distinction between Harry Maguire, barracked mercilessly by Scotland supporters at Hampden Park last month but normally hailed by England fans, if not all of their Manchester United counterparts, and Henderson.

There is nevertheless the feeling that three players created problems for Southgate with their decisions in the summer transfer market: Henderson by swapping Liverpool for Saudi Arabia, Maguire and Kalvin Phillips by opting to stay at clubs where they feature infrequently and when they had the option to move for more first-team football. Issues feel unavoidable until Southgate drops them, and thus far he has shown no willingness to do that.

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“I will always pick the players that I think are the best players to represent the team, that give us the best chance of winning, unless there is something I think is not appropriate,” he said, with the clear inference that Henderson, who captained his country against Australia, has not breached his code.

“People may disagree with Jordan’s decision, given the stance he has taken in the past to support the LGBT community, but I don’t think that is a reason to not select him and I don’t actually think that is a reason to boo him.”

If the stubbornness in Southgate has become more apparent, so has the loyalty towards his stalwarts; in September, he branded the treatment of Maguire “a joke”. The former Liverpool captain and the deposed United skipper, he said, have helped bring the “unmeasurable factors” of team spirit and togetherness. It gives them credit in the bank, if not necessarily forever.

“It wouldn’t be fair to say I am going to support them regardless if better, younger players come through but I am also going to defend our team because we need that strength and the two players you are talking about have performed again and again in massive games,” he said.

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And England against Italy tends to belong in that category, and not merely the Euro 2020 final when Maguire thumped in an emphatic penalty in the shootout Roberto Mancini’s side won. In 1997, an England side featuring Southgate qualified for the World Cup with a 0-0 draw against the Azzurri; now the same result would secure a place at Euro 2024.

Henderson may be a distraction: indeed his presence in the starting 11 in the second-string side against Australia might indicate that Phillips is likelier to begin Tuesday’s game. The wider question, separated from the moral issue, is whether Henderson, plying his trade in a far weaker domestic league and in debilitating heat, remains a good enough player to retain his place.

“We will assess Jordan like every other player but if I just select on a popularity contest then our team would look very, very different,” Southgate said. Perhaps Henderson, an unflashy workhorse, would never have won a popularity contest as a footballer, though, increasingly, he may have done as a role model. The difference now is that he could triumph in an unpopularity contest with a public who feel betrayed.