AN ENGLAND fan once told Gareth Southgate his penalty miss at Euro 96 put him behind bars.
The now England manager has revealed the fan blamed him for his jail-time after he was caught “rioting” in the aftermath of England’s 96 defeat.
The fan blamed Southgate’s miss for his time in prisonCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
German goalkeeper Andreas Köpke saved the penalty and won the match for GermanyCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Southgate opened up on the infamous penalty miss to the Happy Place podcast, admitting it took him a “long time” to get over the defeat.
The former international defender took the penalty at Wembley Stadium in 1996 with England and Germany drawn at 1-1.
But German goalkeeper Andreas Köpke saved it, winning the semi-final for his side in the process.
Southgate was an inexperienced penalty shooter at the time, having only scored one penalty in his professional career previously.
And while Southgate received a flood of positive messages after the game, the England manager revealed that one fan blamed him for getting arrested.
Southgate told the podcast: “[There was] a guy who was in jail, although he partly blamed me for getting arrested because he was rioting on the night that’d I’d missed the penalty.”
The former player joked: “I’m prepared to take responsibility for a lot of things but not that!”
The 50-year-old acknowledged many people were devastated by England’s semi-final loss.
But Southgate also revealed he’d been cheered up by the overwhelming amount of positive messages he received from the public after the miss.
The former player admitted it took him a “long time” to get over the penalty missCredit: PA:Empics Sport
Southgate later received encouraging messages from his fansCredit: PA:Press Association
Southgate is now the England football managerCredit: Reuters
He said: “Some of the letters I had, although the negative comments always register more prominently in your mind, they were far outweighed by the positive letters and messages I had received.
“There were people who had suffered massive events in their life, loss of close family, people who had disabled children, people who’d lost their jobs.
“Those things gave you perspective.”
Southgate – who won 57 caps for England – also revealed he had received help from a sports psychologist after the knockback.
And the former player said he felt the worst for his fellow players after the Euro 96 defeat.
He admitted: “The people I felt most for were the other players and the staff, some of whom it was their last opportunity to win something.
“Some of those guys that was their moment to win something with England which as a nation we’ve only done one time ever.
“So I felt that very heavily, that I let down those who had worked so hard with me.”
Southgate acknowledged there were challenging moments after the loss.
He said: “But then you’ve got that broader thing of walking down the street and lads poking their heads out of the van and shouting abuse at you and that’s quite hard to take.
“You go to away grounds and the fans are chanting and that’s quite an ordeal.
“Inside that’s hurting you because part of playing for the national team is that you’re playing for all of them.
“It took me a long time [to get over].”
After the devastating miss, the player also took the mickey out of himself with a TV advertisement for Pizza Hut.
The ad showed Southgate with a paper bag on his head dining with Chris Waddle and Stuart Pearce, whose own misses had seen England crash out of the 1990 World Cup.
In 2018, Gareth Southgate’s England team became the first to reach a World Cup semi-final since 1990 – earning him the nation’s pride.
Southgate’s England team reached the World Cup Semi-final in 2018Credit: AFP or licensors
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
