Gareth Southgate defends Jordan Henderson after England fans boo player over Saudi move
“I’d back him against pretty much everyone in the country in terms of what he stands for and what he believes in”
England boss Gareth Southgate has defended England’s Jordan Henderson after he was booed by England fans during a friendly with Australia last week.
The former Liverpool FC captain completed a £12 million move to join Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ettifaq FC team in July.
However, the transfer left many LGBTQ+ fans of Henderson heartbroken. In Saudi, homosexuality is illegal and punishable by death.
The player had previously pledged his very public support of the Rainbow Laces campaign and ending LGBT discrimination in football.
“I don’t believe he’s an individual whose values and principles have changed” – Gareth Southgate
The 33-year-old was met with boos from England supporters watching the game at Wembley, which both Henderson and Southgate have now responded to.
Southgate, who led the men’s team to the World Cup semi-final in 2022, stood firmly by the player in his comments.
He boldly said of Henderson: “I’d back him against pretty much everyone in the country in terms of what he stands for and what he believes in.”
This is despite the fact the footballer has been accused on a wide-scale of undermining his previous public support of the LGBTQ+ community.
In a press conference on Monday (16 October), Southgate added: “I’ll always pick the players that I think are the best players to represent the team.
“That give us the best chance of winning, unless there’s something I feel is not appropriate.
“I’ll always pick the players that I think are the best players to represent the team”
“In this instance, people might disagree with Jordan’s decision, given the stance he’s taken in the past to support the LGBT community, but I don’t think that’s a reason to not select him and I don’t actually think that’s a reason to boo him.”
Southgate went on to share that he didn’t understand why fans would “boo our own team” after Friday’s match.
“What I do understand is that people would feel that the decision Jordan made to go and play there doesn’t align with his strong support of the LGBTQ community in the past,’ he said.
“I’ve not seen him comment anywhere differently, I don’t believe he’s an individual whose values and principles have changed.”
“I’d back him against pretty much everyone in the country in terms of what he stands for and what he believes in. But I accept that his decision to go and play there doesn’t align with that. So he understands that, he accepts that.
“But I repeat, when we are playing for England I feel that everybody should be behind the team. But if people choose not to be then we have to deal with that.”
It came after Henderson commented on the negative response himself, saying he was “disappointed” to be booed, but didn’t seem fazed by the reaction.
“If people want to boo if I’m playing in a different country, that’s fine. Everyone is going to have an opinion over playing over in Saudi.
“I’ve spoken in the past about the reasons for that. Whether people believe us or not is up to them,” he said.