World Cup 2018: Gareth Southgate and Harry Kane the biggest winners as England’s run in Russia boosts commercial appeal of key figures

Even in defeat, there was an undeniable feel-good factor around England at the World Cup.

You only need to look at Marks & Spencer reporting a doubling in sales of waistcoats to see the value that a Southgate-led run at the World Cup can have on a brand. For public relations expert Mark Borkowski, the aura that Southgate created has made him an “absolute winner” of the tournament in Russia, which finished on Sunday.

“With the exception of Harry Kane they don’t have a stand-out player,” says Sher. “That has been the case throughout the tournament and that is set to continue. There wasn’t anyone in the team that emerged in particular.”

Borkowski disagrees: “The England team are coming back as heroes, a number of them, [Kieran] Trippier and certainly Kane’s value will have shot up. Jordan Pickford has surprised people and certainly Harry Maguire. It has surprised everybody.”

Now that the dust has settled on a tournament packed full of surprises, there is one thing that Borkowski is confident in predicting: deals.

“The Brits like heroic failures, it’s part of our psyche,” he says. “England can harvest the success of heroic failure for all sorts of deals. I suspect after the summer break we will see a lot more deals.”

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