Tomorrow's Business Today
The best PR people in the world
The front page of The Times on Monday, in its first edition anyway, blared that England manager Gareth Southgate had to go.
Henry Winter is a long-time Southgate sceptic, partly because the manager doesn’t much care for Trent Alexander-Arnold, his favourite player.
“Why did England go so quietly into the desert night?” he wrote. “The meek will not inherit the earth, let alone the World Cup.”
He went on: “The FA should be acting decisively today.” Southgate could join the FA board, but otherwise, he was toast.
Among those of us who watch England closely, this seemed well ajar of a) practical reality, b) fairness.
Southgate is superb, a rare case of the right man in exactly the right job. Why chuck that away because his captain missed a penalty?
It seems we weren’t the only ones. Later editions of the paper had a toned down “What now for England and Southgate” header.
On The Times website, the Winter piece quickly became very difficult to find.
A piece by Adam Lallana – I would love to see Southgate stay for Euros – was far more prominent.
Matt Lawton had a much gentler piece than Winter’s, Were 3am burgers Southgate’s last supper?
If you use the paper’s search button to find pieces by Henry Winter, well, you won’t get this one. That may be a tech matter rather than an editorial choice, admittedly.
But in general, it seems clear The Times editors realised they were far out of step with the public mood.
For our Find Out Now survey this week we asked fans of Premier League football clubs:
Do you want Gareth Southgate to resign as England manager or stay?
It’s a fairly resounding vote of confidence: 70% say stay and only 12% want him to go.
That’s a landslide for Southgate.
The best PR in the world is having the public on your side.
You can see the full results below.
Press release of the day
What does the housing market crash mean for property investors, asks this from Redmayne Smith.
Panic selling and some burnt fingers? Perhaps.
Redmayne reckons there are huge opportunities for those whose finances are in good shape.
If others are struggling to get mortgages, that’s good news for those who can.
Gordon Dutfield says: “We expect to see investors continuing to add to their property portfolios despite the falling house prices, as we know there is still exponential demand for new housing in the UK.”
Stories that will keep rolling
1) Is UK inflation starting to fall?
2) Will the Fed ease the pace of rate rises?
3) Does Tui need to raise more cash to get through winter?
4) Would our regulators have acted nearly so swiftly on Sam Bankman-Fried as the Americans?
