Gareth Southgate steps down as England manager

Jonathan Victoria • 16 Jul 2024 News

The question now is who will replace him?

Gareth Southgate has resigned from his role as England National Team manager days after their close defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 final.

It was a second consecutive Euros final loss for the Three Lions, this time losing out in regular time to a late winner for the Spanish side, who were deserved winners after looking like the strongest side throughout the tournament. 

Questions were raised about Southgate’s ability to guide his side to glory, and while he wasn't able to bring home any silverware, guiding England to two major tournament finals in eight years plus a World Cup Semi-final is a great feat.

Southgate took over in 2016 after being in charge of the Under-21 team for three years. His first international tournament in charge was at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where England surprised not just the nation but the world by making it all the way to the Semi-finals, losing out to Croatia 2-1.

Praise and admiration were given to Southgate for his achievement of guiding the team to greatly overachieve their goals, and it led to a period of success that England hadn’t experienced for a very long time.

It wasn’t all good, though, as questions were raised during the early stages of the 2024 Euros about Southgate’s ability to bring a major trophy home to Wembley.

Fans are often left frustrated with the lack of variety in his squads, with the former boss seemingly keen to always stick with his favourites over players who may have earned the right to be playing or even starting.

And while you can look at the positive narrative that he is responsible for two of England Men’s three major tournament finals in history, there is also the negative side to that in that he is responsible for two major tournament finals out of the three finals England Men’s team have made.

Regardless of how you look at it, Southgate took on a job that he originally didn’t even want at a time when fans were turning their back on the national team due to years of bad results, and he turned things around so much so that England are now one of the powerhouses in world football.

While we think it is the right step for England’s progression to move on from Southgate, we thank him for the job he has done in making this nation believe once again.

Who’s next?

The big question now that will hopefully be answered as soon as possible is who is up next to succeed Southgate?

Whoever it is does have some decently sized shoes to fill, with expectations set to high that whoever it is will at the very least deliver another major tournament finals appearance, but more hopefully finally bring home a trophy.

The leading candidates whose names have come up most often are current Newcastle boss Eddie Howe, former Chelsea and Brighton manager Graham Potter, and the current England Under-21 manager Lee Carsley.

Potter is supposedly the favourite, and while his tenure at Chelsea was not looked upon kindly, many do see that as more of the team's failure than his own, so his appointment may not come with too much negativity (emphasis on too much, as some would probably be likely).

Howe has been talked about for some time, but the problem there is he is tied down with Newcastle and is very much part of their plans going forward - that is if he can get them back some form of European football next season, something which he failed to do last campaign.

Carsley is a strong bet too, following in Southgate’s footsteps of going U21s and then on to the senior squad. But unlike Southgate, Carsley managed to win something with his U21 side, coming away victorious from the U21 Euros last year, where funnily enough they beat Spain.

Other names being thrown in the ring for the job is another former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard as well as former Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard, although both past England stars are seen as long shots given their records so far in management.

Some reckon that the answer lies outside of England, though. While it is unlikely a non-English manager will be named, top managers such as Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino and Thomas Tuchel are all available and are currently touted as potentials for the position.