LONDON • England manager Gareth Southgate has said the Football Association (FA) needs to recruit more women to work in the men's national team training set-up after he was put on the spot by his daughter.
The men's team currently have only two women among the 40 personnel who help prepare the squad for internationals.
"We haven't got that right," Southgate said at the Royal Television Society's Cambridge convention. "Within the FA, we are 38 per cent, I think. female. My daughter said: 'Oh, that's good is it, Dad?' I had to say: 'Good point.' "
The FA Women's Super League, the top tier in England, has taken on more prominence since the 2019 World Cup and the former Middlesbrough boss added changing attitudes towards women's football needed to be reflected across all areas of the sport.
"I meet dads who proudly come up and say: 'My daughter plays football.' Five years ago, that didn't happen. I don't know if that's because the girls weren't playing or the dads weren't proud they were playing," Southgate said.
"It's far more acceptable for girls to play now, there's more teams and clubs. Dads are now excited by that. There's a real enthusiasm for it.
"That's different to where we are with diversity of staff in the team. We've got a staff of 40, so (two women is) nowhere near where we should be."
Southgate also claimed that he was motivated to act so as to ensure equality of opportunity for his family.
"What world do I want for my daughter? What opportunities do I want for my daughter?" he said.
The Three Lions won over the English public as they reached the Euro 2020 final in July and despite losing to Italy on penalties, Southgate believes the image of the team has improved for the better.
On the racist abuse Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho suffered in the wake of the shoot-out defeat, he reiterated his disgust.
However, he understood pulling back from social media was not an option for most of his players as platforms like Instagram give them a chance to better connect with the public, especially minorities in England, as opposed to "sit-down interviews with print journalists who are 90 per cent white guys aged 50-plus".
"If I don't like it (the racism) in the short run, well, welcome to what they've lived through for the last 20 years," Southgate said.
"With the national team, there's more at stake than just the football.
"The most heartening thing for me has been the people coming up to me celebrating their feeling of connection to the team who have been Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Afro-Caribbean.
"The change in that over the last 18 months has been incredible. I didn't realise how disconnected from those communities we were."
REUTERS
