Gareth Southgate has announced he is leaving his role as England manager following defeat in the final of Euro 2024. He says it’s “time for a change” – he’s right.
When Gareth Southgate was appointed permanent England manager in 2016, expectations were so low that he outlined his main objective was simply building a team “fans could be proud of” again.
Pride, that was his mission upon taking ‘The Impossible Job’, and regardless of Sunday’s Euro 2024 final defeat, most would agree he’s accomplished that goal following the announcement of his departure. Southgate confirmed on Tuesday that it’s “time for a change”, Sunday’s defeat to Spain his last of 102 matches in charge of the Three Lions.
It goes beyond just pride now, though. Southgate got fans believing in the men’s team again, having rebuilt expectations to a point where they’re higher than they’ve been for decades.
While the players are of course part of that, there’s no doubt Southgate has played a central role, and for that his time in charge of the team must be considered a success even without the tangible achievement of winning a trophy, with those hopes this time vanquished by Spain in Berlin.
Granted, it’s fair to say England’s performances in Germany certainly didn’t always capture the imagination, and Southgate himself would recognise he was fortunate to be appointed at the right time to benefit from one of the most talented generations of men’s players the country has ever produced.
He isn’t perfect, but the transformation he oversaw was pretty significant. And it isn’t just about the team kicking a ball a bit better than their predecessors. Many of the most positive elements about Southgate’s time in charge were intangibles that some might feel have little to do with the act of kicking a ball or running.
He continuously showed empathy and kindness, rarely afraid to address major societal issues such as discrimination. He also spoke openly about the effects of pressure and fear, knowing all too well what it’s like to feel as though the disappointment of a nation has been laid at your door. Above all, he was authentic and honest. That matters.
While it’s impossible to quantify the significance of having an emotionally intelligent manager, it clearly helped Southgate harbour an environment of genuine professionalism – the England camp at international tournaments was often alleged to be something of a circus in years gone by, and that no longer appears to be the case.
But, to be honest, all the evidence you need when considering what Southgate brought to the England job are the results and the facts.
With the second-youngest squad in the tournament, Southgate took the Three Lions to only their third World Cup semi-final ever in 2018; along the way, they recorded a first knockout win at a major tournament in 12 years and a first penalty shootout success (vs Colombia) ever at a World Cup.
Then, at the delayed Euro 2020, there was a first win over Germany at Wembley since the 1966 World Cup final, their biggest ever knockout win (4-0 vs Ukraine), and a first major tournament final in 55 years.
Even Qatar 2022 had its moments. The 6-2 hammering of Iran was Southgate’s ninth win at a major tournament, setting a new record for managers of the England men’s team, and their 13 goals was the most the Three Lions had ever scored at a World Cup/Euros. They were also pretty unlucky to be eliminated by eventual finalists France.
This summer in Germany, the 2-1 win over the Netherlands ensured the Three Lions reached a major tournament final on foreign soil for the first time. It also meant England had made it to the final in two of their four World Cup/Euros campaigns under Southgate, with the men’s team having only got so far once in their previous 23 appearances at the two tournaments.
Resilience was a key feature for England at Euro 2024, as were key moments from big players – from Jude Bellingham’s dramatic overhead-kick inspiring them to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat (and elimination) against Slovakia…
… to Ollie Watkins’ 90th-minute winner in the semi-final. Some will put that down to the individual quality of the players, but who’s to say those moments weren’t products of the professional and empowering environment cultivated by Southgate?
To truly appreciate what all of this means and how far Southgate took England, you have to reflect on what came before.
We mean the wasting of the last so-called ‘Golden Generation’; the failure to even reach Euro 2008; being trounced by Germany at the 2010 World Cup and outplayed by Italy at the Euros two years later; the England men’s darkest ever hour in Nice at Euro 2016 as they were eliminated by Iceland; Sam Allardyce being sacked after one match.
When you take all of that into consideration, there’s every reason to feel Southgate’s tenure has been successful. After all, success is a relative term, and the men’s national team is in far greater shape now than it was eight years ago.
Whichever way you slice it, this was a largely positive era rooted in the failures of the past.
Amid those aforementioned disappointments earlier this century, The FA was working behind the scenes on what came to be known as ‘England DNA’, a long-term, centralised development plan that looked to revolutionise the way English football produced coaches and players, while also aiming to challenge the perception of what attributes an England player would have.
Inspired by a similar revolution that laid the groundwork for Germany reaching the 2006 World Cup and then going one better eight years later, Dan Ashworth – then the FA’s director of elite development – unveiled ‘England DNA’ in 2014; sat next to him on that day? Gareth Southgate.
Southgate played an important role in the creation of that development plan, having taken part in the FA’s Youth Development Review; it ended up being the very blueprint behind the team he’d ultimately oversee in back-to-back Euros finals.
But while it’s okay to say Southgate did a very good job overall and got England fans believing again, it’s also perfectly understandable to suggest performances at Euro 2024 were almost exclusively disappointing and that it is time for a fresh start.
The laboriousness and lack of invention in England’s play at the Euros were especially frustrating given the amount of ability in the squad; there’s even an argument that they were among the worst attacking teams in the tournament, with their 0.77 non-penalty expected goals (xG) per 90 minutes only better than that of Scotland (0.32), Georgia, Serbia (both 0.7) and Romania (0.71).
Linked to that was the fact England mustered just 10.9 shots per game, more than only six teams, while their average of 3.6 shots on target per game was the sixth fewest.
Despite riding their luck all the way to the final, there had at least been more positive signs of the team developing the possession-focused style Southgate has tried to implement, with England seemingly doing better in the past couple of years to be in control against elite opposition.
But in the final they were outclassed by comfortably the best team at Euro 2024, and their rather meek share of possession (34.9%) was eerily similar to the 34.6% recorded in the Euro 2020 final; in fact, both figures are the lowest on record (since 1980) for a men’s team in a European Championship final.
What makes this even more damning is that they were playing against a Spain side who’ve ditched their dogmatic approach to possession football, and yet they were still far better at what England were trying to do. Luis de la Fuente’s men only had more of the ball versus Georgia at Euro 2024 (75.2%).
So while it’s obviously an achievement that England reached back-to-back Euros finals having never previously gone beyond the semis, they became the first men’s team to lose consecutive European Championship finals and in doing so Southgate emerged as the only manager to be defeated in two men’s Euros finals.
Those facts alone provide a rather succinct argument for why it is the right time for everyone to move on – but history should reflect kindly on Southgate and the job he’s done.
After all, this is a man who had otherwise been most closely associated with England’s greatest heartbreak, that penalty miss against Germany at Euro 96; although he’s not been able to end 58 years of hurt, Southgate at least presided over eight years of hope.
Because of him, the England job now looks significantly less impossible for whoever takes over.
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