There are occasions when many of us might have reached for the word ‘repulsive’ in the context of sport over the last 25 years.
For some, watching swathes of Spain fans racially abusing Shaun Wright-Phillips and Ashley Cole during a ‘friendly’ against England in the Bernabeu in 2004 would have been one.
For others, reading about West Ham defender Kurt Zouma kicking and slapping his cat around his kitchen would have been another.
Hearing the details of the allegations of violent abuse made against tennis star Alexander Zverev by two separate women: that would have justified the use of the word, too.
It is an emotive adjective. It carries with it a connotation of moral degradation and a suggestion that it is referring to an action that has made the observer feel physically sick. It is packed full of disgust. You might reserve it for a heinous crime or a particularly unsavoury act.
Where I differ with Thomas Tuchel – or his mother – is that it has never occurred to me to use it in reference to the attitude that Jude Bellingham adopts on a football pitch.
Where I differ with Thomas Tuchel – or his mother – is that it has never occurred to me to use the word repulsive in reference to the attitude that Jude Bellingham adopts on a football pitch
Haughty, perhaps. Confrontational, yes. Determined and committed, certainly. Precocious, ferocious, intuitive, intelligent? Absolutely. Repulsive? No
No matter whether it was Tuchel or his mother who finds Bellingham ‘repulsive’, the damage is done. The bomb has been detonated
Haughty, perhaps. Confrontational, yes. Determined and committed, certainly. Precocious, ferocious, intuitive, intelligent? Absolutely. Repulsive? No.
Let’s remember something at this point: Jude Bellingham is 21 years old. He is still practically a kid. He is still impulsive, as most young men are. Sometimes, he sees enemies where none exist. Sometimes the enemies are real. Experience will teach him to distinguish between the two.
What he has achieved in his career so far is incredibly impressive. He is an exceptional midfielder. Away from the pitch, he treats people with courtesy and respect. Tuchel referenced some of those qualities, too.
But language is important and language is powerful and language will be repeated by Bellingham’s detractors, and even if Tuchel was clear in an excellent interview on talkSPORT on Wednesday that it was his mum who found Bellingham’s behaviour repulsive, not him, the damage is done. The bomb has been detonated.
That word is going to follow Bellingham around now, like a faithful mutt trotting at his heel. ‘Refuelling’ stalked Paul Gascoigne for the rest of his career after the then England manager Graham Taylor mentioned it in connection with him. The internet doesn’t forget and neither does fan culture.
Exercises in damage limitation, I suspect, will follow shortly. England may blame Tuchel’s comments on a language issue. The point was lost in translation from German to English, they may say.
But that is fraught with issues because clear communication and the avoidance of misunderstandings are two of the reasons many felt England should stay with an English manager when Gareth Southgate left the job.
It is the kind of diplomatic disaster that the FA must have known they were courting when they appointed Tuchel, who has a reputation for ruffling feathers. The organisation has been tip-toeing around Bellingham, the prodigy in their midst, since he made his England debut in November 2020. Now this.
Let’s remember something at this point: Bellingham is 21 years old. He is still practically a kid
It is the kind of diplomatic disaster that the FA must have known they were courting when they appointed Tuchel, who has a reputation for ruffling feathers
England may blame Tuchel’s comments on a language issue. The point was lost in translation from German to English, they may say
Bellingham’s notoriously confrontational father, Mark, quickly grew angry with me when I told him before the Champions League final last year how much I admired his elder son.
So God only knows what he’ll make of Tuchel conflating Jude with the word ‘repulsive’, even if it is refracted through what the England manager says is his mother’s view.
I suspect some poor soul at the FA was holding a phone receiver at arm’s length for a couple of hours on Wednesday night while Mr Bellingham let them know exactly what he thought of Mrs Tuchel – and perhaps her son, too, in the aftermath of his ruminations on Jude’s ‘intimidating’ attitude.
The wider point here is that England have a problem now, a problem bigger than a 3-1 home defeat to Senegal, a scratchy victory over Andorra and an uneasy sense that the FA are only just beginning to realise quite how much they threw away when they turned their back on the success achieved by Southgate and appointed Tuchel to replace him.
The sense that joining up with England was something to relish, rather than something to dread, had been cultivated by Southgate but is dissipating already under Tuchel. Tuchel’s comments on Wednesday are unlikely to encourage Bellingham to embrace the England culture.
The FA have spent the last five years dancing around Bellingham and his dad, and caving in to his demands.
The result, which has not been received well by team-mates, is that Bellingham is given special treatment compared to the rest of the squad by never being asked to speak to the press.
It is time for that to end. It is time for Bellingham to stop being treated as a man apart and it is time for the FA to stop appeasing his father and tell him that his son will be treated just as every other member of the England squad is treated.
Bellingham’s notoriously confrontational father, Mark (right), quickly grew angry with me when I told him before the Champions League final last year how much I admired his elder son
Bellingham is given special treatment compared to the rest of the squad by never being asked to speak to the press
It is time for Bellingham to stop being treated as a man apart and it is time for the FA to tell his father that his son will be treated just as every other member of the England squad
The FA have been scared rigid of alienating Bellingham for some time because they know their faint hopes of winning the World Cup next year shrink to nothing without him. If Tuchel’s faux pas brings that damaging stand-off to a conclusion, then at least some good will have come out of it.
My own solution to the Bellingham problem would be more drastic because something radical needs to be done to change the tone of the discussion around a special talent.
Bellingham is England’s best player and yet it takes only a cursory glance at social media to understand that many supporters are becoming alienated by his body language and his attitude to his teammates.
We can argue all we want about whether Tuchel meant to use the word ‘repulsive’, whether it accurately reflects his mother’s views, whether anyone should care what the coach’s mother thinks, whether it is being overplayed or not.
But the reality remains that the England coach has, inadvertently or not, fed the negative narrative that is growing around Bellingham.
Bellingham should be an overwhelming positive for England. The idea that a word like repulsive even enters the discussion around him shows you quite how far we have lost sight of what an asset he is.
Perhaps Bellingham bears some responsibility, too. Perhaps his attitude to his team-mates should be more encouraging.
Make him captain, give him more responsibility, tell him it’s his job to lift the standards of those around him and maybe that would change, too.
Bellingham’s big enough for the captaincy. He could handle that. It would bring even more out of him as a player
Make him captain, give him more responsibility, tell him it’s his job to lift the standards of those around him and maybe that would change, too
Bellingham’s big enough for that. He could handle that. It would bring even more out of him as a player.
If he feels like an outsider, what better way of solving that? What better way or harnessing the energy for the general good than making him skipper?
England are starting to look like a team that’s stuck. Morale is falling. Confidence is being lost. Tuchel’s ‘repulsive’ comment is only going to hasten that trend.
He has work to do and relationships to repair. He should start by giving Bellingham the armband.