DEAR Gareth Southgate,

I admire much of what you have done and said. As England manager, you have taken a team of talented players and achieved some excellent results. Whether they are as talented as the media in England would have everyone believe is an entirely different matter.

As someone who works with organisations across the UK and the world with a particular focus on how to improve team working and performance – and as a former professional sportsman myself – I was also delighted to read about your apparently open-minded approach to the development of the right attitudes, the right mentality and the right approach – all of which should, and does, lead to better performance.

I particularly liked the fact you seem to embrace the well-founded notion of listening to dissenting voices, rather than just the usual football “echo chamber”. In the world of psychology and in business, there is much to prove that such an approach works. I hope people in similar positions closer to home to me in Scotland are listening, too.

You felt moved to pen an open letter to some sections of your own fanbase who you believed were not clear about the fact that you, rightly, have no truck with those keen to hurl abuse, racial or otherwise.

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You spoke about a “special group ... humble, proud and liberated in being their true selves”. I – and the vast majority of the thinking world – applauded you as you made crystal clear your opposition to racism and abuse in all its forms, particularly on social media. In that open letter you also referred to your own background, a topic I’ve heard you mention before and on something I think where you and I may have some shared perspective. You spoke about the impact of your grandad on your life and your perspective. You mentioned that he fought in the Second World War and how those values have transcended the generations and are as strong with you as they were for him.

My grandad also fought in the war – hardly a surprise as you and I are very close in age. My grandad was born into a humble mining family in Fife, and he fought in many places, notably in Tunisia, and he then also took part in the Anzio landings in Italy. He watched in horror as a German messenger who was shot (the fact his message never arrived actually alerted the German Army to the possible Allied invasion) had his stuff searched.

Out fell a picture of this young guy with his wife and two young children. My grandad said to his colleagues: “You do realise we’re all the same? He doesn’t want to be here any more than we do.”

Soon after that my grandad was captured and spent the remainder of the war in two prisoner of war camps in Germany. He survived, fortunately. But what he fought for was democracy and freedom. Democracy and freedom for every thinking, caring member of humanity, whether in Scotland, England, Wales, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, the USA or anywhere else in the world.

He fought against tyranny, and the kind of idiotic, destructive approach of a tiny cabal of powerful people with only the most extreme right-wing politics and their own gains as motivations.

When we see the actions of senior members of the current UK Government in supporting those who abuse your players over taking the knee (and the reason for your open letter), then I’m not so certain that such views have been left behind in the 1940s. It’s a very sad, and worrying, state of affairs.

Imagine my dismay, then, when I saw you quoted in The Telegraph on Saturday, the day before the European Championship Final.

The European Championship Final. What a wonderful occasion awaiting you and your team. All the hard work and years of practice have led you to that moment. Quite reasonably, you took the opportunity to open up a little and tell people what it all meant to you; some of the “inside take” for such a showcase. A real gem for all England fans in particular; and certainly interesting to those of us who love our sport.

The piece talked of how you wanted to emphasise the historic nature of the match, especially in this Covid-dominated world. You reportedly wanted to “invoke the courage of the wartime generation”. This is where my ears pricked up. You said: “I think there are historic things that we should be proud of. There are different aspects to it, but at heart I go back to the values that my parents gave me and treating people as you would want to be treated, and just respectful really.”

The article reported you as having said that “the country should not be ashamed to draw on past triumphs” and that you “admitted memories of the war had played a part in the defeat of Germany” earlier in the tournament.

You went on to say: “But also people have tried to invade us and we’ve had the courage to hold that back. You can’t hide that some of the energy in the stadium against Germany was because of that ... for an island our size we’ve got an incredible influence on the world and we’ve got to keep that in a positive way.”

AS you would be the first to point out, you are England’s football manager. But much as it may come as a surprise to some, England is not the only nation on this “island”. Scotland and Wales have very long histories as I’m sure you’re aware – and in the case of Scotland, while we signed the Union Treaty in 1707, the nation of Scotland has never gone anywhere.

The Second World War was also won by The Allies – Great Britain (note: not England), USA, the Soviet Union, France and China, as well as all the wartime signatories to the original United Nations declaration.That you spoke of “invoking the courage” of past triumphs, and using the war as a factor in motivating you – as England – to win against Germany, made me say “how dare you”.

My grandad, and millions like him, fought for freedom. They fought against precisely the same kind of idiotic, right-wing, unthinking (but not undeliberate) behaviour as displayed by the racists you want to stand against. They fought for these things across all international boundaries; the Second World War was not “nation pitted against nation” like a football match.

You cannot on the one hand complain loudly about some boorish, abusive elements within your support and simultaneously then talk about the war as though it were some kind of “England versus Germany” fight? To even infer that is deeply offensive to millions across the world. To do so also inflames the feelings (in a bad way) of precisely the kind of people you say you don’t agree with.

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I’m going to assume that you didn’t mean that, but I also feel duty-bound to highlight the hypocrisy of that position. You either don’t know that England is not Great Britain, or that the Second World War was a fight for freedom of expression and democracy – or you do, but didn’t think about the logical consequence of your comments.

I believe your comments were ill-considered; but as they were also deeply personal, I’ll just leave you with one question: what would your grandad have truly said about this?

I know what mine would have.

I also believe you to be a very decent human being, so I wish you well on your continued journey of discovery, learning and development and I hope that the disappointment of losing to an outstanding Italy side hasn’t dented you from continuing the excellent work you have done thus far.

All the best,

Ewan Hunter