Gareth Southgate insisted on Friday evening that the controversial logo on the collar of the New England shirt is not a St George’s flag, claiming it was just a ‘quirky design feature’.
The national team coach, who described himself as a huge patriot, failed to criticize the Football Association and Nike over the multi-coloured flag, which is described as a tribute to the training kit worn by the World Cup-winning team in 2011. 1966, when he first spoke about the furore that has overshadowed tonight’s friendly against Brazil.
‘I think they can make a quirky design, but you can’t say it’s the flag of St. George, because it’s not. So it’s something different,” Southgate explains.
‘The most important thing on the England shirt is the Three Lions. That’s the iconic thing that even sets us apart from the England rugby team or the England cricket team.”
Southgate, who also ruled out speaking to any club while still England manager after being linked with Manchester United, added: ‘I’m a huge patriot. I believe we should celebrate St. George’s Day more than we do. But what I understand is that people think we shouldn’t have changed the flag of St. George.
Gareth Southgate insisted on Friday evening that the controversial logo on the collar of the New England shirt is not a St George’s flag, claiming it was just a ‘quirky design feature’.
Southgate, who described himself as a huge patriot, failed to criticize the FA and Nike over the multi-coloured flag (pictured above)
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Harvey Elliott’s collar remained up throughout the match in Baku – the shirt’s first ever appearance in international football, with the senior playing in it at Wembley tomorrow
If it has been changed, it is not the flag of St. George! So I’m a little lost with that element of it.”
An FA spokesperson said: ‘The new England 2024 home kit features a number of design elements intended to pay tribute to the 1966 World Cup winning team.
‘The colored piping on the cuffs is inspired by the training gear worn by England’s 1966 heroes, and the same colors can also be found in the design on the back of the collar.
‘It’s not the first time different colored St George’s-inspired designs have been used on England shirts.
‘We are very proud of the red and white St. George’s cross, the English flag. We understand what it means to our fans, and how it unites and inspires, and it will be prominently displayed at Wembley tomorrow – as always – when England play Brazil.”
Nike said in a statement that “it was never our intention to offend” and that the “intent was to celebrate the heroes of 1966 and their achievements.”
It came as one of England’s young stars yesterday turned up the collar of the new ‘woke’ Nike shirt – the first official appearance in an international match – and concealed the controversial blue and purple St George’s Cross.
Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott, 20, scored twice in the young Three Lions’ 5-1 win over Azerbaijan in a European Under-21 Championship qualifier in Baku, but the flag on his £125 jersey was not in sight for the entire match.
Nike launched England’s new home and away kits earlier this week, but they were met with criticism
The kit, modeled by Harry Kane, was released ahead of England’s Euro 2024 campaign
Harvey has not commented, but Liverpool have no collar on their famous red shirts. However, when the Surrey-born attacking midfielder went on loan to Blackburn Rovers in the Championship, he kept his collar down.
The FA director who approved the controversial changes to the England flag on the home shirt left Wembley last year.
Mail Sport has learned that the new kit deal with Nike has been signed by former FA commercial director Navin Singh, who is now Chief Commercial Officer of Six Nations Rugby.
The much-criticized changes to the St. George’s Cross introduced by Nike, which added navy blue, light blue and purple to the traditional red cross, were approved by Singh in the summer of 2022.
They were only made public when the kit went on sale earlier this week, causing a strong reaction, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Opposition Leader Keir Starmer both calling on the FA to return to using the traditional flag.
The shirt features a modified design of the St. George’s Cross, which has a red, navy blue and purple design
Reform British MP Lee Anderson is another who has rejected the new shirt design, claiming: ‘Woke nonsense has got to stop’
Starmer said: ‘The flag unites, it doesn’t need to change. We should just be proud of it. So I think they just need to rethink this and change it back.”
UK Reform MP Lee Anderson condemned the move, telling the Daily Express: ‘The left has the audacity to ask me why I want my country back. This virtue-signaling, namby-pamby, pearl-clutching, woke nonsense has got to stop.”
Singh left the FA last year after being promoted to a senior role by the Six Nations. It is unclear whether the FA’s chief executive, Mark Bullingham, was aware of the changes Nike had made to the flag before the contract was signed, while the FA’s current commercial director, James Gray, was not involved at all as he only joined the organization last December.