LGBT+ England fans could turn their backs on Jordan Henderson when he plays for his country in a symbolic response to his transfer to Saudi Arabia as manager Gareth Southgate played down a “morality argument” against the move.
Henderson was included in the 26-man squad for the upcoming games with Ukraine and Scotland as England manager Southgate stuck with the former Liverpool skipper despite his move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ettifaq.
Southgate does not believe Henderson will be jeered when he next turns out for England, despite the criticism he has faced for moving to Saudi Arabia after being a keen and vocal supporter of the Premier League’s ‘Rainbow Laces’ campaign and also working alongside Liverpool’s official LGBT+ fan group.
Joe White, the co-chair of Pride in Football and founder of Three Lions Pride, believes Henderson will not receive a hostile reception but warned that his presence on the pitch could be greeted with a symbolic gesture “in the same way he turned his back on us”.
“It definitely will be a very muted atmosphere and, whilst he’s got presence in the squad, he will not have a presence in our banners that we take to games any more,” White told the PA news agency.
“I don’t think it will go hostile because ultimately we want England to do as well as possible but I do think that, say he came on as a substitute, where before there would be a lot of cheering, particularly from our group at Three Lions Pride, I think there will just be silence now .
“It may well be that there comes a joint message from the LGBT fans in the stadium who may well turn their backs on him coming onto the pitch in the same way he turned his back on us by going to Saudi.”
Speaking after announcing his squad, Southgate questioned why Henderson was coming in for so much criticism.
“We are picking a team for football reasons,” he said.
“There are lots of different ownership models of clubs in England, there are lots of players playing in countries where there are different religious beliefs; I don’t really know why a player would receive an adverse reaction because of where he plays his football.
“I don’t really know what the morality argument is because so many of our industries are wrapped up with Saudi investment. Given the situation with Russia we are reliant on Saudi Arabia for a lot of our oil.
“They’re invested in so many British industries but I don’t hear any noises about that. It’s only the football that’s highlighted.
“The LGBT+ stance is a religious belief in that country and there are lots of other countries in the world that we trade with and operate in that have those beliefs so it is very difficult to work through all of that.
“Until somebody tells me differently on whether I can or can’t pick players if they’re playing in different countries is one thing.
“My job is to pick a football team. I don’t think you can pick a football team based on any prejudice where they might be playing their football.”
England had previously been criticised by LGBT+ groups after they opted against wearing the ‘One Love’ armband during the World Cup in Qatar last year.
Southgate – who said he and his staff “should” at some point travel to Saudi Arabia to watch Henderson – also reaffirmed his commitment to inclusivity, adding: “We are supportive of the LGBTQ+ community.
“A large number of the team and staff have either relatives or friends from that community.
“It is something that we are very conscious of and a situation we are very conscious of.
“We have tried to be very supportive but I also accept members of the community felt let down around the World Cup.
“These are all very complex situations that we are trying to do our best to navigate.”
Southgate told BBC Radio 5Live that it was up to Henderson when he would address the issue.
“It’s for him to decide when he’s going to speak and how he speaks,” he said.
The PA news agency understands media plans for which England players will be put forward to speak at St George’s Park next week are still to be confirmed.
Asked if there was anything Henderson could do to win back support of the LGBT+ community, White added: “I don’t think he can regain the trust purely because he’s now living in a country where it’s illegal to be LGBT, where the local LGBT community have to hide and live in fear of arrest, of state-sanctioned abuse.”
Meanwhile, Southgate was non-committal when asked if he would ever consider a job in Saudi Arabia.
But the 52-year-old said he would not ever walk out on England for such an opportunity, just a week on from Roberto Mancini taking the job as Saudi Arabia head coach shortly after resigning from the Italy post.
“I can easily say no and look like the big guy,” he replied when asked if he would take a job in the country.
“But can you answer that question until it is there in front of you? I’m not looking to leave the job I’m in. I’m very happy.
“I certainly wouldn’t leave managing my country during my contract.”
Levi Colwill and Eddie Nketiah were given maiden senior call-ups but Raheem Sterling has been left out of Southgate’s squad.
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Al-Riyadh 0-1 Al-Nassr: Mane hands visitors bragging rights
Sadio Mane's first-half strike ensured Al-Nassr maintained their unbeaten start to the Saudi Pro League season with a 1-0 win over rivals Al-Riyadh.
He smartly finished from close range in the 41st minute, with his goal enough to seal the three points and move Al-Nassr up to third in the table.
Al-Nassr's threat grew as the first half went on, with Milan Borjan making a fine double stop to deny Ronaldo and Talisca once again before Mohamed Simakan struck the post on the rebound.
Mane would eventually break the deadlock in the 41st minute though, darting in front of his marker to meet Abdulrahman Ghareeb's low cross and rifle it into the roof of the net.
The Senegalese striker arguably should have doubled his tally before the break, but was denied by Borjan's stretching save when one-on-one with the Canadian.
Talisca should have wrapped up the points in the final three minutes, but he blazed over an empty net from close range, before having a late goal disallowed for offside.
Data Debrief: Derby delight for Al-Nassr
After drawing their last two matches, this win was a welcome result for Al-Nassr as they racked up their sixth victory of the season to close the gap at the top of the table to six points.
It is just the second time Al-Nassr have avoided defeat in their first 10 matches of a Pro League campaign, last doing so in 2013-14, when they won the league title.
They are now unbeaten in their last seven Pro League derbies (W4 D3), their longest such streak since a run of nine between 2018 and 2020.
This is the first time in eight such games that they have kept a clean sheet though, and limited their opponents to just five shots throughout.
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