England manager Gareth Southgate has voiced his support for the sponsors of UEFA European Championship 2020, after he was seen not doing a ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’ by keeping the Coca-Cola bottles at their place on the press conference table.
The entire controversy started on Monday, 14th June, when Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo and his national team head coach Fernando Santos attended a press conference, ahead of their Group F clash against Hungary.
Seeing two bottles of Coca-Cola placed in front of him irked the fitness-freak in Ronaldo, and he chose to remove the bottles from the camera angle. In a subsequent action, he also urged people to drink water instead.
Ever since the video of this incident has gone viral, Coca-Cola’s brand value has taken a significant hit. Their share value dropped by 1.6%, while their market value saw a $4bn dips.
In a press conference ahead of England’s tie against Scotland, Southgate was asked about his opinion on this issue. The 50-year-old was quick to acknowledge the investment by the sponsors, which helps the athletes in getting the best of facilities.
“I think there are lots of sponsors in sport and the impact of their money at all levels helps sport to function, particularly grassroots sport in our country requires a lot of investment and without some of those companies investing, it is very difficult to provide the facilities we need,”
said Southgate, as quoted by ESPN.
“With anything, of course, we are mindful in our country of obesity and health but everything can be done in moderation. I understand the concerns that people have and two guys had different rationale for the stances they took but there’s always a bigger picture to these things,”
he further went on to add.
Kane agrees with Southgate’s statement
The Three Lions’ star striker Harry Kane, who was seated next to Southgate in that press conference, was also asked to give his opinion on the Coca-Cola issue. While the Tottenham Hotspur player did not provide as elaborate an argument, he did say that he was in complete agreement with whatever his coach had said.
“I totally agree. The sponsors are entitled to have what they want if they have paid the money to do so. It is not something personally I’ve thought too much about. Obviously I’ve seen it go around on social media but if I’m totally honest I’m more focused on tomorrow than anything like that.”
the 27-year-old stated.
After beating Croatia in their opening Group D tie by a slender margin of 1-0, England will now take on their noisy neighbours Scotland on Friday, 18th June. The match will take place at Wembley.
If reports are to be believed, Southgate is likely to make a couple of changes to his winning combination. While he opted for the experience ahead of exuberance in the last match and selected Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier as his two full-backs, neither of them are likely to feature in this match.
Reece James, who recently lifted the UEFA Champions League for Chelsea, is likely to slot in at right-back, replacing Walker. On the other hand, Manchester United’s Luke Shaw is likely to replace Trippier at left-back.
