Football

World Cup 2022: Gary Neville calls for immediate Southgate decision

World Cup 2022: Gary Neville calls for immediate Southgate decision

Former England defender, Gary Neville, has called for Gareth Southgate to communicate his decision over his England future over the next couple of days as speculation continues to grow about his future as England boss. 

Southgate, who is England’s most successful manager since Sir Alf Ramsey, is planning on spending some time over the festive period with his family to decide his future. However, Neville thinks that isn’t fair on the FA, with qualifying for the European Championships beginning in March. 

In a video with Football Daily, The Ex-Manchester United star said:

“I think Gareth needs to come out in the next couple of days and put it to bed, and just say “I’m staying,” or “I’m not,” because I don’t think it goes into the new year because we’ve got games in March I think, and I don’t think that’s fair for the FA, because they need to find a successor.

It feels to me like 18 months is right, and that they’re doing this next tournament with Gareth knowing there’s a succession plan in place, it would feel right to me.

Southgate’s next move

If Southgate does decide to step down from his role as England Manager, then there is likely to be a number of suitors eying him up. Prior to entering the England setup as the u21s Manager, Southgate had only been a club manager once. 

Between 2006-2009, he managed the team he amassed over 150 appearances for, Middlesbrough. Despite starting off relatively well, his time on Teesside ended in misery with relegation to the Championship. 

Neville doesn’t want to see his former England teammate go back into club football, though, and would rather see him continue with the FA in some capacity, should he decide to walk away from his job as England boss. 

“I think that Gareth’s future – look, he’ll decide his own future – but for me, there’s no English person alive who’s got more experience of major tournaments, junior tournaments, or youth tournaments, and played for his country. 

He’s seen it all Gareth, and I think he should be kept inside the system to design the future. He’s been there for ten years, we’ve had great success with the women’s team, we’ve had great success with the younger teams, and I think we’ve had relatively really good success with the men’s team. 

I feel like he’s seen that over 10 years the improvement in performance, and that performance and culture have improved. I’d like him to stay with the FA beyond his contract.”

southgate

The road ahead for England 

Neville’s concerns about the timings of Southgate’s decision is a fairly legitimate one. If rumours are true, then the FA aren’t preparing a contingency plan because they believe that Southgate will stay on. 

However, their qualification campaign for Euro 2024 starts in the most difficult way with a trip to Italy to face the team that beat them in the Euro 2020 final before hosting Ukraine at Wembley. Having a manager in place well in advance of these two crunch fixtures is paramount. 

The current favourites for the job should Southgate resign are Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino, despite calls for the next manager to be English.


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