Gareth Southgate has decided to stay on as England manager after considering his future following France’s World Cup quarter-final defeat.
Southgate said he would take time to weigh up whether he had the energy to continue and hold talks with the Football Association, who wanted him to fulfill a contract that runs until December 2024. He believes the climate is very different of the negativity that followed. the Euro 2020 final defeat and the recent Nations League campaign which ended in relegation. He has highly valued the support of FA chief executive Mark Bullingham and other members of the hierarchy, although he maintains the firm support of his staff.
A feature of the World Cup campaign was Southgate’s almost constant endorsement from the dressing room. After the defeat to France, Harry Kane, the captain, said he wanted Southgate to continue and Declan Rice and Harry Maguire did the same.
Southgate led England to the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2018 and to a penalty shoot-out to win the Euros. Southgate went to Qatar aiming for a first tournament win since 1966 and said after the team’s departure: “The energy these tournaments require is enormous. I want to make the right decision, whatever it is, for the team, for England, for the FA.”
Southgate said in June that he would not overstay his welcome and reflected after the defeat by France that he was “conflicted” about whether to continue in light of the various lows of the past 18 months.
The nadir came in June’s 4-0 home defeat to Hungary at Wolves, which sparked a furious backlash towards Southgate from the crowd. There is still an element of the fan base that would like Southgate to leave and he mentioned Molineux’s response when he said after the France game: “I’ve found a lot of the last 18 months difficult.”
When Southgate extended his contract in November last year, he spoke of the depth of playing talent at his disposal, how he had “done a lot of the work culturally” to make them contenders and his desire to carry it out. “To step aside at a time when we still think the next few years could be very exciting … it would have been hard to live with,” he said.
Sign up for Football Daily
Start your evenings with The Guardian’s opinion on the world of football
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertisements and content funded by third parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
After a week of soul searching, he has returned to the wisdom of those words.