Dear England by Gareth Southgate is a leadership book that explores team culture and resilience, drawing on his experience as England football manager. It offers practical advice for leaders in any field, from building resilience to transforming culture.
Written with warmth, honesty and wisdom, Southgate's inspiring book transcends football to offer modern-day leadership lessons for any individual, team or organisation.
As England manager, Gareth Southgate forged a unique management style, combining calm empathy with mental resilience, and courageous integrity with strong accountability. His leadership propelled the men's national team to its most sustained success in fifty years, reaching the 2018 Fifa World Cup semi-final, the 2022 quarter-final, and the Uefa Euro 2020 and 2024 finals. In the process, Southgate revitalised and reshaped the national team's footballing identity.
In Dear England: Lessons in Leadership, Southgate reveals the defining moments that forged his leadership style, the principles that informed his biggest decisions, and the inner steel he developed that enabled him to perform under the most intense public scrutiny. Learn how to:
Southgate reflects on his early days as a Premier League captain, his lowest moment missing a penalty during Euro 96, through to his experiences guiding England through four major tournaments, and becoming a cultural figure whose open letter during the Covid-19 pandemic inspired a hit West End play. Southgate's story is one of overcoming setbacks, building quiet resolve and enacting long-lasting change.
Written with warmth, honesty and wisdom, Southgate's inspiring book transcends football to offer modern-day leadership lessons for any individual, team or organisation.
Other Information: Gareth Southgate holds the record as the man who has represented England in more games than anyone else, with 102 matches as men's senior team manager and 57 as a player - a total of 159 caps. The only manager bar 1966 World Cup-winner Sir Alf Ramsey to lead the England men's team into a major tournament final, finishing runners-up in Euro 2020 and 2024, he managed England at four major tournaments, also reaching the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and quarter-finals in 2022. In doing so he holds the record for winning more major tournament games than any other England manager in history.
He is a former winning club captain with a distinguished playing career spanning over 500 games for Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough, where he was appointed manager in 2006, the youngest in the history of the Premier League at the time. Gareth has won BBC Sports Personality Coach of the Year twice. His role with England inspired the award-winning and sell-out West End play Dear England, the title of which was taken from an open letter he wrote to England fans in The Players' Tribune during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the 2024 New Year Honours List he was knighted for his services to football and his country. His 2025 BBC Richard Dimbleby Lecture on the challenges facing young people received critical acclaim and provoked a national debate. While having supported numerous charity projects, he is proud to be focused on his work as a Goodwill Ambassador for The King's Trust, Ambassador for Martin House Children's Hospice and Patron of Help for Heroes. He has recently become a visiting lecturer at Harvard Business School, where his experiences have formed a case study on leadership.
