Harry Kane - England captain, but not the fans favourite.
The complex relationship between Harry Kane and England fans
Harry Kane is one of the greatest players in English football. This shouldn’t be a controversial statement.
In fact, you’d imagine that England fans would celebrate having one of the biggest footballing talents we have seen at the helm of the national team. But alas, too many times we have seen that when things go wrong for England, Kane is often the first to receive blame and the quickest to vilify. So why don’t England fans like Harry Kane?
Of course, it is easy to blame the captain of the ship when his crew are not performing. Football fans love to point fingers when things go wrong for their team and the captain makes an easy target. This has certainly been the case with England fans in international tournaments when the stakes are high, and when emotions run even higher.
Harry, Gareth & Raheem - trying their best for England, but will it ever be good enough?
Criticism of Kane
Yet the criticism of Kane seems to run deeper than simple finger-pointing or scapegoating. He became the England captain in 2018 and since then the national team have experienced their highs and their lows.
They were so close to glory in the 2020 European Championship, yet they fell at the very last hurdle after losing to Italy in the final on penalties.
In the 2018 World Cup, England made it to the semi-finals but ended up finishing in fourth place after losing 2-1 to Croatia and then falling to defeat against Belgium in the third-place play-off. Recent history for England has been a very frustrating case of so close, yet so far.
The 2018 World Cup - Kane Vs Croatia
A moment from the 2018 World Cup that many England fans continue to fixate upon occurred in the semi-final match against Croatia.
England were 1-0 up at this point, and Kane had a great opportunity to double the lead. He raced towards the net and Croatian goalkeeper Danijel Subasic ran out towards him. Raheem Sterling was free to Kane’s right, running into empty space but instead of passing to Sterling, Kane decided to shoot. His attempt was saved by the goalkeeper and England went on to lose the match. To this day, England fans are adamant that ‘Kane should have squared the ball to Sterling’.
Kane’s ‘selfishness’ was blamed for England’s defeat. He was in contention for the competition’s Golden Boot and so many believe that, at that moment, he decided to prioritise his own potential success over that of the team.
England fans are adamant to this day that if Kane had squared it to Sterling, the team would have won the 2018 World Cup.
Few fans, however, care to include that even if Kane had squared it and Sterling had gone on to score, the goal would have been disallowed. Kane was actually offside – something that the Video Assistant Referee would have undoubtedly picked up on.
The England captain has not been able to escape that moment – it has become immortalised in the eyes of the fans as the singular reason why England did not win the World Cup.
Clearly, the reality is very different. As an England fan myself, I remember the disappointment of that match. Going from the elation of Kieran Trippier’s early goal to the frustration and anger of getting knocked out of the competition just before the final was devastating. Yet the resentment and backlash that Kane faced and continues to face to this day for that one moment is unfair.
Is Kane a penalty merchant?
Another bugbear that England fans have with their captain is the number of penalties he has scored in relation to his goals from open play.
Yes, a significant number of Kane’s goals for England have been penalties. But the team itself has struggled over time to actually score goals from open play. Is this Kane’s fault, or does it point to a bigger issue related to the way in which the team is set up?
During the Gareth Southgate era, England have often played too deep, and this has been very frustrating for England fans. The fact that the team’s incredibly talented frontline seems unable to reach its potential and score goals when it matters is undoubtedly exasperating – but this is not Kane’s fault.
Fan opinion goes beyond football
All too often, Kane is spoken about by England fans with disapproval and contempt. Not only is the way he plays picked apart, but he is also often ridiculed for matters unrelated to the game such as the way he speaks.
Of course, no player is exempt from criticism and there are times when Kane’s performances have been under par and deserve to be critiqued. However, the animosity he receives from England fans often feels unjustified and agenda motivated. I cannot think of any other country that directs so much unwarranted anger towards their national team’s captain.
Is the England Captain ever respected?
It almost seems to be a tradition for England fans to turn on their captain when things aren’t quite going right for the national team. In 2016, Wayne Rooney, one of England’s greatest players, faced similar pressures as England's captain.
He was booed and jeered by the England fans in a European qualifying match in October 2016 – not only at the start of the match when his name was read out but also towards the end of the game when one of his shots strayed wildly off-target.
However, the difference here is that Rooney was in decline for both club and country.
He was struggling to make the starting XI under Jose Mourinho at Manchester United and his recent national performances had been underwhelming. Yet, even so, there was still some sense of unjustified anger towards the England captain. He was booed towards the end of the game even though England were actually winning the match 2-0.
He’s one of their own
Perhaps the frustration of being so close yet so far is what pushes England fans towards disparaging their captain. I believe that the added dimension of Harry Kane also being a Tottenham Hotspur player is what causes some England fans to feel some extra hostility towards the England man.
Spurs are one of those teams that football fans rarely feel neutral about. The team is loved (most of the time) by its fans, respected by some, but also disliked by many.
A majority of England fans do not like Kane when he plays for Spurs, and it seems that some of this resentment filters through to when he is playing for the national team.
Back the England Captain
Essentially, one of the best players in English football, one of the best strikers in the world is the captain of our national team.
England has gone through some tough times and there are situations in which criticism towards a player is undoubtedly justified. Yet, Kane has given England fans some amazing moments and I have no doubt he will continue to do so. The captain is easy to scapegoat when times are tough, but football is a team sport and rarely is one player to blame when things are not quite going to plan.
Kane is an incredible role model on and off the pitch and I have no doubt that he can lead this team to glory. It is time to get behind our nation’s captain.
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