Not bothered? Ignoring the noise? No… Here's how England's players REALLY deal with criticism and all the eyes on them - and the WAGs - at the Euros

Do not be fooled into thinking England players are oblivious to the way they are portrayed back in Blighty.

We’ve spent the last few days hearing members of Gareth Southgate’s squad insist they are unbothered by what seems like an unrelenting diatribe of negativity spawned from two very ordinary performances at Euro 2024 so far — almost as if they are brushing it off as inconsequential.

Gary Lineker’s scathing criticism of England’s display against Denmark last Thursday, in which he described the performance as ‘s***’, has spread through the team hotel like wildfire.

Indeed, the former England striker’s follow-up comments on Monday — when he accused the English press pack of inflaming his remarks — caused wry smiles inside the camp. But, ultimately, the coverage is an irrelevance — at least that’s what the players and staff would have you believe.

‘It’s just noise,’ was the recurring theme from Southgate and his vice-captain Kyle Walker ahead of the Denmark draw.

Win convincingly here in Cologne on Tuesday and all will be forgotten. You can picture the positive headlines already.

If that happens, you can bet your bottom dollar the players will respond to that praise by saying: ‘We are only one bad game away from being criticised, we’ll take no notice.’ But they care. Trust me, they care.

Certain players have vowed to stay off social media during the tournament so they are not exposed to any negativity which may disrupt their focus on the job ahead. But their innate desire to know how they are being publicly perceived festers. It grows until they crack.

Some will eventually reach for their phones, others have taken to contacting their representatives to gauge the reaction to their performances on the pitch — or their respective media appearances — so they are not directly exposed to any criticism.

The obsession isn’t restricted to the players either. Wives and girlfriends are all jockeying for position at matches so they can be captured by paparazzi.

The family member of one England player has been described as a ‘dragon’ for publicity by one onlooker here.

Another member of the WAG contingent has even contacted Mail Sport to ask if we can use a different photo of her because she wasn’t enamoured by the snap published on our website. They see it. They feel it. They react to it.

There’s nothing wrong with any of that, of course. First and foremost, the players are human beings — it’s natural for them to take an interest in what the world is saying about them, whether it’s good or bad.

That desire to keep abreast of the opinions of others is heightened during a tournament.

It’s unavoidable in a camp where time by yourself is plentiful, particularly at England’s base in Weimar which is very picturesque but largely cut off from civilisation.

‘You’re spending a lot of downtime in your room,’ explained Declan Rice. ‘It’s more the mental side than the physical side that I struggle to cope with, but I’ve definitely got better at that as my career’s gone on. Now I’m in a place where I try to deal with both as well as each other.’

Beyond the training, treatment and massages, players have much of the day to twiddle their thumbs. Those thumbs inevitably reach out to their phones.

Interviews that were only broadcast on TV in the past are now clipped and posted on social media to add another layer of publicity for players to stay on top of.

The reach of major tournament coverage expands globally nowadays, with footballers fully aware of the importance of protecting their own personal brands. It’s important to stress that this isn’t to say England’s players aren’t focused on the job at hand. They most definitely are. But combining that focus with an eye on how they are being publicly perceived is something that comes with being a modern-day player.

The explosion of social media and its importance as a tool in shaping narratives means players virtually have no option but to be exposed to it.

The fact players pay their own social media experts thousands of pounds to keep their public personas relevant illustrates how seriously they view it.

‘It’s constant nowadays, 24-hour coverage,’ said the agent of one player in the England squad. Long gone are the days of incidents like England’s infamous dentist-chair debacle prior to Euro 96 being plastered all over national newspapers. No social media back then, of course.

Each story now is dissected and constantly refreshed with new revelations before often losing its impact within a day or two.

The circus that surrounds England at major tournaments isn’t a new concept. But the way the coverage is consumed has certainly changed.

Newspapers aren’t necessarily a major point of reference for England players or those tasked with moulding their public images. But MailOnline is a very influential platform for modern players. That gravitas isn’t only restricted to the sports pages.

And if it means England’s players are able to use it as fuel to improve on the pitch, then great.

Jose Mourinho perfected the art of developing a siege mentality. An ‘us against the world’ approach that didn’t necessarily do much for player-media relations but worked wonders for his teams over the years.

Steve Holland, England’s assistant coach, witnessed first hand how Mourinho manipulated media criticism to fire up his team.

Invariably it is newspaper journalists who are in the line of fire, a concept perpetuated yesterday as Lineker tried to distance himself from his ‘s***’ jibe.

‘Made the headlines again, haven’t I!’ Lineker observed on The Rest Is Football podcast, speaking with Alan Shearer.

‘Journalists being what journalists are. They can be a bit tricky on these things, trying to wind up our footballers.

‘We’ve obviously been critical of England’s performance, as has pretty much every journalist. But you know what happens, it’s happened to you and it’s happened to me over the years.

‘You sit there as a player and it’s your turn to face the press and at some point a journalist says, “So and so has been critical of you” and you know they’ve not heard it.

‘It happened to me in 1986 with Mick (Channon). He was doing a bit of punditry and he said, “Oh, the boy Lineker ain’t running around” and all this.

‘Then it happened with Jimmy Greaves at Italia 90 who said, “He’s struggling, he looks like he’s never been the same since he recovered from hepatitis two years before”.

‘So journalists will use that quote and say so and so said this. Lineker said England are s*** blah blah blah.’

But if it wasn’t Lineker, it would be someone else. It’s part of life in the tournament bubble.

It has always been that way. Players have always cared about how they are perceived. And they always will.