‘Southgate You’re the One’: social media reacts to England’s win

As sure as night follows day, social media memes follow a big sporting event, and so England fans on Wednesday night enjoyed sharing jokes and clips of events around the Euro 2020 semi-final win almost as much as the victory itself.

Mason Mount was showered with praise after this video clip of him giving his shirt to a young girl in the Wembley crowd took off on social media. Her emotional reaction summed up how many England fans must have felt after such a long wait to reach a major tournament final again.

This enthusiastic fan won plaudits for the brave way in which he attempted to continue singing and celebrating, even after gracefully falling down several rows of seats.

The actor Ingrid Oliver implied, however, that she had not found supporting England on Wednesday night that relaxing or enjoyable.

Social media users had some significant questions about the award of a penalty in extra time to England, and why the video assistant referee (VAR) did not overturn the decision.

The hashtag #cheating was trending on Thursday morning, leading to some interesting theories about who might have been in control of the VAR operation on the night.

A clip of ITV pundit Gary Neville was also massively shared, as at the end of the match he delivered a verdict on not just Southgate and the England team, but on the country’s leadership as a whole.

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The former Manchester United and England player went viral for saying: “The standards of leaders in this country for the past couple of years has been poor, and looking at that man there, that’s everything a leader should be. Respectful. Humble. Tells the truth. Genuine. He’s fantastic, Gareth Southgate. He really is unbelievable and he’s done a great job.”

Speaking of leaders, there were plenty of observations after Boris Johnson rocked up to the game wearing a replica England shirt. Some cast aspersions on the prime minister’s football knowledge.

And Johnson’s whole football shirt plus office shirt and tie combo was roundly mocked.

Political points were not hard to find – whether it was people expressing surprise at leftwing public figures suddenly seeming to discover a nationalistic fervour …

… or schadenfreude at those on the right who at the outset of the tournament had taken such offence at England players taking the knee before matches. The Conservative MP Lee Anderson, who had announced he was boycotting England matches while they continued to make the anti-racism gesture before kick-off, was a popular target for memes.

Some harked back to that famous Norwegian commentator back in 1981:

If you were not supporting England, well, there is still another match around the corner, and time to get some different flags in for your bunting.

Atomic Kitten’s song Whole Again has been adopted by England fans as an anthem, and they have rerecorded it as Southgate You’re the One (Football’s Coming Home Again). It has caused some raised eyebrows.

But it made for an astounding atmosphere at the stadium.

And Gareth Southgate was getting praise not just for his tactics and substitutions, but for almost single-handedly saving the name Gareth.

Atomic Kitten delighted fans by performing the new version of the song live on the BBC after the match had ended.

But perhaps most of all on social media, after months of difficult times, for England fans it felt like there was just a tremendous celebration of the nation coming together, a huge sense of relief, and a wave of admiration for Southgate and his team.

And so on to Sunday, and the clash with Italy.