How would Bellingham have coped with Italia 90 critics – IAN HERBERT

It was impressive of Jude Bellingham to quote Theodore Roosevelt’s beautiful ‘Man in the Arena’ speech to reflect on keeping England in the Euros: ‘It is not the critic who counts. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood.’ But a little historical perspective might not go amiss.

He appears to be obsessed with criticism of England’s campaign, to the point that vindication was as paramount as victory on Sunday. Bellingham wanted to discuss the ‘rubbish’ there had been to contend with; how ‘people talk a lot’, that ‘you do have to take it personally.’ How ‘it’s nice to throw it back to some people.’ God only knows how Bellingham, such a sensitive soul, would have coped at the Italy World Cup of 1990.

England’s tournament that summer is already assuming remarkable parallels with this one: 1-0, 0-0 and 1-1 results in the group stage, the team flipping between a back four and back three, with a spectacular late winner to rescue the last-16 tie. For Bellingham, read David Platt. But the reporting of the team back then really bears no comparison to now.

To have observed Bellingham these past few weeks is to imagine he has been the victim of some gross injustice, not the subject of a running pre-tournament hagiography, to which I certainly contributed. 

Whilst his teammates emerge on a rotating basis to sit before the written press, where the guts of the England team’s performances is dissected, he only deigns to appear before the TV cameras. At times giving a very good impression of someone who’s just been smacked in the face.

Jude Bellingham has repeatedly hit back at those criticising England throughout Euro 2024

Bellingham produced a moment of magic to rescue England against Slovakia on Sunday night

But to have observed Bellingham these past few weeks is to imagine he has been the victim of some gross injustice, not the subject of a running pre-tournament hagiography

The only explanation we have of why Bellingham grabbed his crotch after scoring on Sunday is his own tweet that it was ‘an inside joke gesture towards some close friends.’ He probably won’t be venturing into any further discussion on the subject, though given that the staff of the world’s 45th-ranked nation feel the gesture was aimed at them, some elaboration would help clear up a distinct sense that his behaviour was classless.

Say what you like about Gareth Southgate’s current conservatism and tactics, the man has imbued the England football team with an air of modesty, grace and fundamental likability, over eight years at the helm. On the basis of the past three weeks, Bellingham seems to be reserving such qualities for Real Madrid. ‘Who else? Who else?’ he proclaimed on the pitch after that equaliser. Had Cristiano Ronaldo come up with a line like that, wouldn’t we be decrying his raging ego?

No-one foretold this. Nor the average performances. Nor his practice of throwing up his arms in the air in frustration with team-mates. ‘Body language which sends a message to the fans, to his team-mates and his manager,’ as Wayne Rooney observed last week.

Perhaps it can be hard for a 21-year suddenly to discover what a negative critique is, and that the realm of sport is built on assessment, conjecture and opinion, having heard so many telling him he walks on water, for so long.

But if the current assessments offend him, Bellingham might consider how England entered Italia ‘90 in the crosshairs of a raging British tabloid war. A ball had not been kicked when some titles declared open war on manager Bobby Robson for having the temerity to take a club job in Eindhoven after the FA blazers had effectively told him he would be out after the tournament. ‘A Liar, A Cheat.. and not fit to lead England,’ was Today newspaper’s apoplectic take.

That preceded England’s drab opening 1-1 opening draw against the Republic of Ireland which had one back page pleading: ‘Bring ’em Home.’ and La Gazzetta dello Sport offering: ‘No football please, we’re English!’ This summer’s tone is entirely different; critical – yes – though more empathetic and encouraging. MailSport’s ‘We’re backing England’ campaign is looking for the positives. We’re not the only ones.

England’s tournament this summer is already assuming remarkable parallels with the Three Lions’ campaign at the 1990 World Cup where Sir Bobby Robson was under huge pressure

Back then, Paul Gascoigne was the same ‘pied piper’ for England that Bellingham is now

A newly published and revised paperback edition of journalist Simon Hart’s excellent history of Italia ’90, ‘World in Motion’, provides a sense of how it was to be in the England camp that summer. It relates a state of open warfare between players and press, driven by the treatment of Robson and exacerbated by a Daily Mirror front page claiming that Isabella Ciaravolo, a 27-year-old singer recruited as an Italia ’90 ‘hostess’, had been expelled from England’s Sardinian base amid rumours of ‘high jinks.’

Steve McMahon ripped up British papers in full view of the cameras and a sense of ‘us and them’ did fortify the team. ‘It worked to our advantage more than anything else,’ Butcher tells Hart. But the squad laughed it all off. No delicate egos to damage. Those were simpler, analogue times, of course. No digital sphere to amplify the noise. But England had less self-absorption and thicker skins. They didn’t take themselves too seriously.

And of course there was the indefatigable Paul Gascoigne, the same ‘pied piper’ of England’s summer, as Hart puts it, which Bellingham is now. Not well acquainted with the speeches of Roosevelt, perhaps, yet a genius with the faculty to lighten the mood on any pitch; in any room. He knew his own genius but did not walk around the place with a superiority complex. He, aged 23, brought joy – and what a gift that was. Gary Lineker has always said that summer was the best atmosphere he ever knew with England.

It was a bumpy ride, just like this summer. Platt’s legendary 119th-minute goal against Belgium has overshadowed the drabness of England’s performance that day. ‘Even Ron Atkinson, providing analysis in the ITV commentary box, turned to commentator Brian Moore at the end of the broadcast and muttered, ‘We could be the worst ever team to win it,’ Hart writes. Belgium’s Le Soir newspaper asked: ‘How could it happen?’

But God only knows how Bellingham would have coped with the criticism of England back then

England will take solace that the quality of previous displays never matter at tournaments

But the quality of the previous performance never matters in tournament football, of course. The semi-final defeat to Germany, a performance of flamboyance and courage which remains England’s best performance outside of 1966, had the Daily Mail’s Jeff Powell thanking Robson for ‘rekindling the English love affair with the game invented on our island more than a century ago.’ Robson had a sponsorship deal with Hamlet that summer and a few days after the semi-final could allow himself a photograph with a cigar in his left hand and a smile on his face. Some rehabilitation.

In his brief media appearances on Sunday evening, Bellingham thanked Real Madrid for improving him, though England can certainly form part of his education too. ‘The fans expect a lot of us, regardless of what happened in recent tournaments,’ the player went on to say, perhaps not cognisant of the fact that when they see a player giving, from first whistle to last, delivering the moments of sublimity and dragging along those with lesser vision, adoration will follow.

‘They made me feel like I stood 10 feet tall,’ Gascoigne said of that same fanbase after the summer of 1990 had ended in devastation and tears for him. ‘It was like nothing I’d ever known.’

The updated paperback edition of World in Motion, The Inside Story of Italia 90, by Simon Hart (Mount Vernon Publishing, £14.99 ) mountvernonpublishing.com