Southgate resigns as England manager

Gareth Southgate:

As a proud Englishman, it has been the honour of my life to play for England and to manage England.

As a non-Englishman, he looks to have steadied a pretty awful ship after a series of poor performances at tournaments and some managers that have perhaps not been as well suited to the role. However, bigger than that, he looks to have overseen a period of calm, stability and foundation-building off-the-field as well.

But it’s time for change, and for a new chapter.

I agree. He’s done a great job from an organisational perspective, but with the group of players he has, he’s been negative and overly cautious in his approach. It does feel like superb foundations are there for the next manager to come in. But, the FA needs to look at the profile of managers around and decide what they want.

I hope that the next England manager isn’t as prosaic and can play some football to get fans off their seats. Football is no longer only about winning, it’s now entertainment and that is probably the one downside of Southgate’s tenure.

I genuinely wish Southgate well in whatever is next for him. He’s done a great job and I hope he’s remembered for that.