Jim HOLDEN
AT THE HEART OF THE GAME
This summer’s Euros could be the England manager’s international swansong
Two crucial questions have probably been lodged in the back of Gareth Southgate’s mind during a winter of reflection and hard thinking. How boldly should his England team play as they chase triumph in the European Championship? And, after eight years as an international team boss, is it time for a new challenge in the maelstrom of club football?
Initial answers to the first question will arrive with spring friendlies against Brazil and Belgium, opponents of the requisite strength for tournament preparation. England supporters want to see their team play on the front foot, tackling high-class sides with confidence rather than caution, with freedom rather than fear.
Southgate has long been criticised, at times unfairly, for being too pragmatic with his team selection, and the strategy for these two matches will tell us much about how England now see themselves: as favourites or as hopefuls.
An answer to the second question is more complicated. The FA are keen for Southgate to remain as England boss beyond Euro 2024 and he has no need to make a firm decision about his future until this summer’s tournament is done and dusted.
Wisely, he is keeping his options open. “You’ve got to see how the summer goes. It’s as simple as that,” Southgate said at the UEFA Nations League draw in February. But it was clear enough in recent comments that he is considering a switch away from the international arena sometime in the future, and that he feels his England experience makes him a candidate for the biggest jobs in the game.
“There isn’t a job in world football that would intimidate or daunt you having lived this one, frankly,” he told Sky Sports News in December. “You’re not going to have any higher profile, you’re not going to have any greater pressure. I don’t know what the future will be, but I’m very calm about that. I’m not worried about what that might be.”
Southgate’s record with England is excellent, reaching a semi-final, final and quarter-final in his three major tournaments, with a superb overall win-rate of 62 per cent.
He has instilled a strong team spirit with England that so many of his predecessors signally failed to do. He has been loyal to players, yet ruthless in judgements when he feels the need. England was seen as an impossible job when he began eight years and 91 matches ago, the team humiliated at Euro 2016 and the supporters severely disaffected.
