England now know who their Euro 2024 last 16 opponents will be after a frantic end of the group stages. After topping Group C - albeit in somewhat unconvincing fashion - the Three Lions will face Slovakia, who finished third in Group E.
After limping to just one win and two draws in their group stage fixtures, with only two goals scored, England have struggled to live up to their billing as one of the pre-tournament favourites in Germany.
The underwhelming nature of England’s performances so far has seen the spotlight fall on Southgate, who has received criticism from the media, while he also saw cups thrown his way by Three Lions fans following the goalless draw with Slovenia on Tuesday evening.
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Southgate is the third longest-serving manager in Three Lions history and taken the team to a World Cup semi-final in 2018 and lost the final of Euro 2020 on penalties. But with England struggling to make an impression in Germany and with the 53-year-old’s contract with the FA set to expire at the end of this year, questions are being asked about his future in the job.
This in turn has led to speculation about who would be the next man for the job, with the bookmakers installing Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe and former Brighton and Chelsea chief Graham Potter as the early favourites.
But one of Euro 2024’s most impressive managers has already spoken to the FA about the job back in 2016. Austria have been one of the tournament’s best teams so far, more than living up to the ‘dark horses’ tag that some pundits gave them before the competition started.
Their boss is a familiar face to English fans, with Ralf Rangnick having taken charge of Manchester United on a six-month interim basis for the second half of the 2021/22 season. And while he failed to turn around the Red Devils in his brief spell in charge at Old Trafford, he has more than restored his reputation this summer, thanks to his Austria team’s effective high-pressing style.
Back in 2016, the FA interviewed him at Wembley over the Three Lions job following the departure of Roy Hodgson following Euro 2016. And while he impressed FA technical director Dan Ashworth, they instead chose to hand the job to Sam Allardyce as they were reluctant to hire another foreigner.
“Dan first contacted me in 2012 and invited me to an interview at West Brom. He offered me the job but I knew he was probably going to join the FA, so I turned it down,” Rangnick told FourFourTwo back in 2017.
“After the Euros he called me again and asked if I would come for an interview for the England job. I said, ‘How realistic is that?’
“He said that if it was up to him it would be very realistic, but that there were some other people on the board who’d also have a say, and a few of them thought it should be an Englishman. Of course, that’s normal. Three days after I went for the interview, they informed me that Sam Allardyce would be taking over as manager.”
Allardyce would famously last just 67 days in the job, overseeing a single match before he left the role by mutual consent after accusations of malpractice following an undercover investigation by the Telegraph.
Southgate then landed the job after being promoted from the under-21s, with Rangnick going on to enjoy a successful spell at RB Leipzig before rocking up at Old Trafford.
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