I really wasn’t sure whether or not Gareth Southgate would want to stay on as England manager beyond this World Cup.
I read some of the pieces about how he was feeling after the France defeat and I think sometimes people forget that and just focus on the players’ emotions. Gareth will have been just as gutted with the way things ended.
Personally, I’m pleased he’s decided to stay, and I do think England have a better chance of winning Euro 2024 with him in charge than if they were shopping around for a new manager now. As a player, it can be unsettling if there’s that uncertainty, and when a new manager does come in you probably don’t play your best football straight away, because it takes time for those ideas to settle.
By contrast, you look at the likes of Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden and how they are really starting to flourish under Southgate now, because he’s shown his confidence in them. In previous tournaments, he’s maybe not used some of the young players quite as much, but at this World Cup he’s really given them their opportunities and they’ve shown what they’re capable of.
It’s frightening to think where some of them could get to in the next phase of this cycle.
Watching the final, those players will obviously have wished they were there, and there’s no worse feeling than being sat at home while a tournament’s still going on. Hopefully, though, that will motivate them to go one step further in 2024. They’ve got the ability to do that. There are not only world-class players in this squad, but several young world-class players, who have the potential to play for many more years, in many more tournaments. It’s frightening to think where some of them could get to in the next phase of this cycle.
That must have been a big part of Gareth’s thinking, too. For him to get to this point and then say, ‘Actually, no, I’m not the right man for the job anymore’ would be a really tough call to make, and if he had to watch this team that he’s built go on and be successful under someone else, it’d be even worse. There was a sense coming into Qatar that maybe this team was coming to the end of a cycle, but it really doesn’t feel like that now, even for some of the more experienced players.
Maybe some fans will be divided, but I think it’s only fair that Gareth stays for another tournament — and I’m excited to see where England can go.
