England manager Gareth Southgate has described playing next month’s Nations League home match behind closed doors “an embarrassment”.
The game against Italy at Molineux Stadium on June 12 will be held without spectators after the Football Association was hit with sanctions following unruly crowd behaviour at the Euro 2020 final in July last year.
The association was fined $90,771 and handed a two-game ban on supporters, with one match suspended for 24 months, for a “lack of order and discipline” at the Wembley Stadium match.
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Asked about the fairness of the supporter lockout, Southgate said it was disappointing to see England swept up in the misbehaviour.
“We are where we are. We’ve got the embarrassment now of playing behind closed doors at home,” he said.
“Normally when you watch those things having happened abroad we’re all grandstanding about how it’s someone else’s problem and how this country should be dealt with – and now it’s us. That’s not a good optic for our country.”
England will play four Nations League fixtures in June, with away trips to Hungary and Germany followed by the visit of Italy and the return match against the Hungarians on June 15.
The opening clash at Puskas Arena will also occur in front of an empty stadium on June 5 after the Hungarian Football Federation was also penalised following several racist incidents during England’s last visit to Budapest.
With an increase in serious pitch invasions and violence across English football, Southgate called the recent behaviour “a concern” and urged spectators to resolve the issue before it forces changes to the match-going experience.
“There’s clearly a responsibility within football because, when it’s in our environment, we’ve got to do all we can to try to make sure it doesn’t happen,” he said.
“We all recognise that, but it’s a wider problem. It’s behaviour and a reflection on where we are as a country.
“It’s a difficult time for people, we’re going to have more difficult times because of the economy and the realities of the situation we’re in.
“How do we want to be viewed as a country because that’s manifesting itself in football at the moment and that’s not a good look. We don’t want to go back to fences up and the type of environment that [was] created.
“We still want to host, we still have fantastic facilities, brilliant stadiums. What we don’t want is this element of it that will distract from the good things that are there.
“So we’re talking about something that could cost us the chance of doing those sorts of things because people will look from the outside.”
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