Gareth Southgate warns England’s travelling fans over behaviour – ‘There are some who overstep the mark’
England supporters have been caught up in incidents of hooliganism in recent years and Southgate issued a message to any fans looking to travel to Portugal
England supporters must not let the country down through bad behaviour when they visit Portugal for this summer's Nations League finals, Gareth Southgate has told talkSPORT.
The Three Lions head to the Iberian Peninsula in June to face the Netherlands in the semi-finals after topping their A League group against Spain and Croatia.
These are exciting times for England as they aim to build on the success they enjoyed at the 2018 World Cup.
However, Southgate, who exclusively joined Adrian Durham and Darren Gough at talkSPORT's brand new studios, issued an appeal to any travelling England fans to stay out of trouble.
Southgate said: “We’ve got Portugal this summer where it’s hot and there will be a lot of beer.
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“I spoke to a dad just now whose son is going and he said ‘listen, you’re representing your country just as much as the team are’.
“We don’t want people going and letting us down, we don’t want to associate with that.
“There are thousands of fans who are a credit but there are some who overstep the mark and end up being a distraction for the team.”
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While there were no issues in Russia, certain sections of England supporters have been caught up in hooliganism incidents in recent years.
In the lead up to an international friendly against the Dutch in Amsterdam in March 2018, 100 England fans were arrested for trouble in the city, the worst of which saw a group of them throw a series of beer bottles at a boat on the canal which contained tourists.
A group of Three Lions were also caught fighting in the streets of Marseille in the lead up to England's Euro 2016 clash with Russia.