AT long last, some good news.
Gareth Southgate, England manager for the next four games, is not in it for the money.
It is a good start. A refreshing start. A new start.
When Malta arrive at Wembley a week on Saturday, England will have a head coach who is fully committed to what happens on the field.
He made that much clear in the book — Woody & Nord: A Football Friendship — he co-authored with Crystal Palace’s goalkeeper coach Andy Woodman.
Southgate, who had a privileged career at the top level, wrote: “Money in football is wrong, it is obscene even.
“An insult to social workers, firemen and schoolteachers, for sure. Money has never been a motivating factor for me.
“It has been a privilege to play football for a living. I could never abuse that privilege.”
More of this in the months ahead, please.
Southgate — nicknamed Nord because he sounds like comedy writer Denis Norden — takes charge of his first training session at St George’s Park next week.
From here, the scrutiny will be intense.
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After an international career spanning four permanent managers — Venables, Hoddle, Keegan and Eriksson — he knows the pressures. He knows he is not the big name, the man of stature in the game who everybody is obsessed with finding.
Southgate will do it a different way.
He is at an advantage because he has already worked with many of the players in the Under-21s.
John Stones, Eric Dier, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, Dele Alli and Harry Kane have all played under him at junior level.
This time it is Southgate’s turn to make the step up.
Among the football hates in his book are “players who don’t make the most of their talent”.
That message is likely to be repeated to England’s players when they begin preparations for the qualifiers with Malta and Slovenia.
It is Southgate’s job to lose now.
For a man who maximised his talent to play for England (above), along with Palace, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough, he will demand the same from his players.
He has gained experience with the Under-21s, enhancing his reputation after winning the Toulon tournament in the summer.
After that, the FA were keen to tie him down to a new contract but Southgate was in no rush.
The next time talks crop up, it could be the offer to keep him in the big job full-time.
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