England manager does NOT need to be English… FA should go for the best like Klopp or Guardiola, says Sven-Goran Eriksson

Overall record

• Games: 102
• Wins: 61
• Draws: 24
• Losses: 17
• Goals scored: 213
• Goals conceded: 72

GARETH SOUTHGATE won nothing but changed everything, writes Charlie Wyett.

The decision for him to resign is the correct one but Southgate leaves a legacy which will hugely benefit his successor.

So how will he be viewed in history? It might be kinder in a few years’ time.

At the moment, there is still so much frustration at the way it all ended in Berlin.

Yet Southgate is second only to Sir Alf Ramsey in terms of overall success and no other manager gets close.

To get to two major finals — one on foreign soil for the first time — was a huge achievement.

So was the overhaul of a dysfunctional football team which had just lost to Iceland at Euro 2016.

The players were so paranoid they even refused to tell us in France who was the best at playing table tennis.

That deluded group of individuals thought everyone was against them — and they weren’t.

Southgate changed all that with a far more grown-up approach.

He encouraged the players to tell their own story, to express themselves, and he got rid of a siege mentality that did not need to exist.

Former manager Fabio Capello used to moan that the England team played with fear.

Under Southgate, players loved pulling on that white shirt.

There were no more cliques, no more egos and no more pulling out of squads with dubious injuries which then cleared up by the next Prem game.

Southgate created a club atmosphere within the England team and now you only have to look at the pictures each time the players greet each other at St George’s Park.

They are all mates, pulling together in the same direction, as it should be.

Southgate has been a class act and he leaves with his head held high.

England just fell short with him in charge. There’s no denying that.

But let’s hope Southgate will still get the respect he deserves and is remembered as the man who did, indeed, change everything.

Read Charlie Wyett’s full article on Gareth Southgate.

Or check out all of Charlie’s Euro 2024 columns.

Gareth Southgate claimed that only winning Sunday’s final would earn England the respect of the footballing world.

Spain proved a last-gasp comeback too far in Berlin, but defeat did not change the fact that Southgate’s eight-year transformation put respect back into the world of England football.

Critics will pick apart his cautious tactics, his selection choices and his record in the most high-pressurised games – with some legitimacy.

Yet what is quickly forgotten is the laughing stock our national side had become before he took over in 2016.

A shambolic Euros exit to Iceland that summer had been followed up by Sam Allardyce quitting just one game into his tenure thanks to his pint of wine with undercover reporters.

Then came Southgate, with his decency, his humility, his understated eloquence and his vision for a better, different future.

He had analysed why England had so often failed in the past, from lack of preparation at penalty shoot-outs to players being bored out of their minds during major tournaments.

Southgate took those findings and implemented a culture where players wanted to play for their country again – and it led to back-to-back finals for the first time in our history.

Instead of going to war with the media, he opened his doors to them and discovered, shock, horror, that it was met, generally, with support. 

It did not stop him from being criticised when required – we are no cheerleaders, here – but the vitriol of yesteryear – or today on social media – was largely gone.

No manager is perfect and neither was Southgate. We cannot pretend his teams played like those of Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp.

But in the fullness of time, his feats will likely be revered because the results speak for themselves.

Hopefully his successor can go one step further and bring football home. 

To do that, they must show respect to what Southgate has created and build on it, rather than rip it down.

To read more from Tom Barclay click HERE.