Gareth Southgate

It's a bit of a reminder that delivering...

bad news is difficult but how you receive bad news i think the person on the other side would always remember that because you know i could have left with a very different view of wayne i'm telling you a story where he comes out with enormous credit i probably wouldn't have talked about it it's being the other way but in my back of my mind i'd have been thinking yeah that wasn't that didn't go so well

I think there are different types of tough conversation.

So there's tough performance conversations where, you know, you're probably going to be with us for the next few games, Jake, but we need more.

So I need to highlight that.

Firstly, where do you see your performance?

And are we seeing it in the same, because maybe it isn't a tough conversation because maybe you're saying to me, actually, I've been struggling with this, this and this and,

okay, well, how can I help you?

For a coach, that's much easier.

So let's try that way first and save ourselves a lot of heartache.

But if you're not seeing what I'm seeing, now I've got to say, look, I like this, this and this, but I think you've got to be better in this area and how do I help you get there?

Yeah.

Because if I don't highlight the issues I'm seeing and I'll just leave you out of the team in three weeks, that's a shock.

That's a harder conversation to have.

And I actually haven't helped to coach you to be the best you can be.

So although that might feel like a tough conversation...

By avoiding it, and you're then out of the team, I'm creating an even harder conversation further down the line.

So I think when people put those conversations off, which I did a couple of times as a young coach, actually they're storing up trouble for themselves.

So I would urge people, have the coaching conversation.

I heard Steve Peters talk about it, you know,