Gareth Southgate has spoken of his pride at being confirmed as manager of England as he reflected on the exacting challenge of getting the maximum from a group of players who have often flattered to deceive.
The 46-year-old’s appointment was ratified on Wednesday, after a meeting of the Football Association’s selection panel, which comprised the chief executive, Martin Glenn, the technical director, Dan Ashworth and the chairman, Greg Clarke.
Southgate steps up from the position of interim manager, which he accepted in the wake of Sam Allardyce’s ill-starred 67-day tenure at the end of September.
England have beaten Malta and Scotland in World Cup qualification and drawn in Slovenia while they also drew 2-2 in a friendly against Spain at Wembley, with his team having led 2-0 up until the last minute.
Southgate seems like a safe pair of hands after the turbulent end to Allardyce’s one-game reign. From early in his period as the caretaker manager he came to look not only like the best candidate for the permanent role but the only one, if the FA were determined to appoint an Englishman.
He has shown a willingness to listen to his squad and, as a player who won 57 caps for England, he can relate to them.
Hard-working and intelligent, Southgate is sometimes said to be too nice but numerous players have spoken of his inner steel.
Break clause
He has signed a four-year contract, which contains a break clause after the 2018 World Cup in Russia. His first competitive match as the permanent manager will be a friendly against Germany in Dortmund on March 22nd. Four days later England face Lithuania in a World Cup qualifier at Wembley.
England are currently top of Group F, two points clear of Slovenia.
“I am extremely proud to be appointed England manager,” Southgate said. “However, I’m also conscious that getting the job is one thing – now I want to do the job successfully.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with the players over these past four games and I think there’s huge potential. I’m determined to give everything I have to give the country a team that they’re proud of and one that they’re going to enjoy watching play and develop. For me, the hard work starts now.”
Southgate was a player at Euro 96 –England’s last notable tournament performance – when he missed the decisive penalty in the semi-final shoot-out loss to Germany.
The scale of his task as the manager is summed up by the statistic that the national team have since won only two knock-out ties at major finals – against Denmark at the 2002 World Cup and Ecuador at the 2006 World Cup.
Southgate was the FA’s head of elite development from January 2011 until July 2012, when he played a key role in the opening of St George’s Park, and he became the England under-21 manager in August 2013.
His team qualified for the European Championship in 2015, when they exited at the group phase, and they also made it through to the 2017 finals. They won the Toulon tournament in May.
Before becoming a part of the international set-up, Southgate's only managerial experience was his three years at Middlesbrough, who were relegated from the Premier League under him in 2009.
Southgate was interviewed for the England job on Monday of last week at St George's Park by Glenn, Ashworth and Clarke – together with the League Managers' Association chairman, Howard Wilkinson, and the former England defender, Graeme Le Saux.
Great confidence
Glenn said: “Because of the history of the summer, when we contacted and interviewed a number of managers [after Roy Hodgson’s departure], we had a pretty recent database of what was out there and the job was to assess Gareth against that. We got a couple more people in – Howard Wilkinson and Graeme Le Saux – to give Gareth a good working over.
“Coming out of that, you get great confidence that he really knows what he’s talking about and that he understands how to motivate the players in the international set-up.
“Gareth is a great ambassador for what the FA stands for, he’s a very good football tactician and a leader but, beneath that, he’s a winner and that’s an important part of the job,” Glenn said.
