England warned to forget making World Cup semi-finals without Gareth Southgate – and Pep Guardiola would be no better
DANNY MILLS warned England will not even make the semi- finals of the next World Cup — without Gareth Southgate in charge.
The former Three Lions defender criticised the “arrogance and entitlement” of fans who believe England should be winning tournaments.
And he does not believe Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp would have done a better job.
Mills, who won 19 caps and went to the 2002 World Cup as a team-mate of Southgate, launched a passionate defence of England’s outgoing manager.
He told SunSport: “With Gareth not in charge I’m not sure we will make the semis or final.
“Gareth got us to the semi-finals of his first tournament and it wasn’t good enough.
“We lost the Euros to Italy at Wembley on penalties then this time lost to Spain, who have won every game.
“We haven’t played well at this tournament and that comes down to players.
“They have got to look at themselves and ask ‘Did I play my best?’ The answer for most of them is no. This is the problem.
“We’ve gone back to where we were 12 to 15 years ago when we had this arrogance and entitlement that we would just turn up and win a tournament.
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“We have to look at the bigger picture, we didn’t qualify for tournaments in 2008. In 2016, we lost to Iceland, a village team.”
Southgate stepped down as England manager on Tuesday – two days after the Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain following eight years in charge.
He is the most successful England manager since Sir Alf Ramsey with 102 games in charge bringing two Euros finals plus a World Cup semi-final and quarter-final.
Amid calls for Manchester City’s Guardiola or ex-Liverpool boss Klopp to take over, Eddie Howe and Graham Potter appear to be the front-runners.
But Mills, 47, doubts any of them would do a better job than Southgate.
Speaking via 888.com, Mills added: “I’ve heard people say Pep would be a great England manager — no, he wouldn’t.
“Pep needs to work with the players day in, day out. Klopp didn’t have an immediate impact at Liverpool, either.
“As an international manager, you get to coach them about three weeks a year if you’re lucky! I don’t understand this principle that football is about entertaining.
“It’s not, it’s about winning. Ask any professional sportsman.
“It’s not about cartwheels, forward rolls, flicks and tricks — your job is to win.”
Southgate's gone - now it's time to go foreign
By Dave Kidd
There is a natural preference to appoint an English successor.
And in an ideal world, the England manager should always be English. But this is not an ideal scenario.
So the FA must be ambitious in sounding out the best man for the job, regardless of nationality.
Because England need a manager who would gain instant respect with players, who would be tactically bold enough to take on Spain and a strong enough character to deal with Jude Bellingham’s Real Madrid Galactico status, which threatens to cause future issues within the England squad. Yes, when the FA have gone foreign in the past, it hasn’t worked out well.
Yet the problem with Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello was that neither had any previous involvement in English football.
They lacked knowledge and understanding of the football culture — indeed, Capello barely spoke the language.
Now there is a wealth of overseas managerial talent with significant Premier League experience, including Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino, Carlo Ancelotti and Thomas Tuchel.
Read more from Dave Kidd on who England should turn to.
England were rocked by physical concerns even before they left for Euro 2024 and rarely looked as sharp as Spain on Sunday.
Harry Kane missed the end of Bayern Munich’s campaign.
While LaLiga’s player-of-the-season Jude Bellingham faded in the run-in — 18 of his 23 club goals coming before the turn of the year.
Former Leeds star Mills has urged the likes of captain Kane and Phil Foden to take a long, hard look at themselves after the Euros final defeat.
He added: “Kane, did he do the best of his ability? No. Foden?
“No . . . 45 minutes against the Dutch isn’t enough for his quality.
“How many players have come out of this tournament with real credit? Not enough turned up and performed — that’s what it came down to.”
Next England manager odds
- Graham Potter – Evens
- Eddie Howe – 3/1
- Mauricio Pochettino – 4/1
- Lee Carsley – 10/1
- Frank Lampard – 10/1
- Jurgen Klopp – 10/1
- Pep Guardiola – 16/1