FOOTBALL managers are like Prime Ministers: however great they are, their term of office nearly always ends in failure.
But Gareth Southgate should leave the England job with his head held high. In future, people will look back on his record – a semi-final, a final, a quarter-final and another final in eight years – and see it as a remarkable success as his England have become one of the best and most consistent teams in the world.
That bare record of footballing triumph does not state what else he has done for his country. He picked up the team after decades of under-achievement when the previous manager, Sam Allardyce, had been forced out by scandal.
He restored pride in the shirt, gained respect from the fans, and transformed the England set-up into a modern, professional one. He did so calmly, with dignity, amid a sport renowned for its sensational hype.
It is such a shame that his eight years finish unfulfilled, that England were always the nearly team and never the outright winners.
It is a mark of the man that he has judged the mood of the nation very well. Fans have been falling out of love with his cautious brand of football for the last couple of years, and for all the glory of reaching the final of Euro 2024, in an age of swashbuckling heroes, England’s scratty play did not win many admirers.
There is, though, a real fear now that fans will come to see the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, that his replacement – who must surely be English – has a hell of an impossible job to match his achievements.
We should look back on the last eight years as a golden age, and for that, Gareth, while we say goodbye we also say thank-you.
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