Don't listen to the haters – the 53-year-old is the best coach the Three Lions have had for 50 years and has unified a fractious nation
Softly spoken, educated, polite and measured are all words you could use to describe Gareth Southgate. Qualities anyone would want to be associated with. But somehow, the England manager tends to provoke derision whenever his name is brought up.
Take the vociferous reaction when it was reported he was being considered as the next Manchester United manager. Or the response of certain pundits and journalists when England exited the last World Cup to France.
In some quarters, the mention of Southgate stirs equal amounts of anger as Donald Trump. The reaction is quite different among people who have worked alongside him or played for him, however.
To those who know Southgate personally, he is a unifier. In a country as fractured as England, he is exactly the leader its football team needs. So whatever happens at Euro 2024, he should be remembered as the manager who gave the country hope again.
Getty Decade of failure
The easiest response to the Southgate haters is to remind them of the team's fortunes in the decade before he took over, in highly unusual circumstances, in the autumn of 2016.
In 2006, the so-called 'Golden Generation', coached by Sven-Goran Eriksson, had fallen to Portugal on penalties in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. It was seen as a huge failure, and yet soon would be seen as quite the achievement, as little more than a year later, under Steve McLaren, England failed to qualify for Euro 2008.
In the 2010 World Cup, then coached by Champions League winner Fabio Capello, they finished second in a group newspaper had dubbed as "EASY" and were thrashed 4-1 by Germany in the last 16. At Euro 2012, under Roy Hodgson, they limped out on penalties to Italy in the quarter-finals, and at the next World Cup finished bottom of their group.
Fast-forward to Euro 2016, and still managed by Hodgson despite his previous failures, they were stunned by tiny Iceland and knocked out at the last 16.
AdvertisementGettyOut-performing fashionable managers
By the time Southgate took charge after Sam Allardyce was forced to resign over a case of entrapment by undercover journalists, England had not won a knockout match at a tournament for 10 years. Southgate has since won six out of nine. He is the first manager since World Cup-winner Sir Alf Ramsey in 1968 to take the team to consecutive tournament semi-finals, and the first since Ramsay to lead them to a final.
The fact Southgate has been unable to ultimately lead England to glory and end 58 years of hurt is a dark mark against him according to some ultra-demanding fans. But compared to his predecessors, including some of the highest regarded coaches in the game at the time such as Eriksson and Capello, his record makes for very impressive reading.
"His legacy with England is set by getting to the final and the World Cup semi-finals," said Gary Neville. "Yeah, getting over the line will be thrown back at him by many, but not by me, who went to eight tournaments and got to one semi-final.
"He does get unfair criticism, of course he does. He's the best performing England manager we've had apart from Alf Ramsey. Stop it there. For all the fashionable managers we've had, Gareth Southgate has outperformed them all by a mile."
Getty ImagesUnifier in an era of division
Southgate has not just improved results, though. He has done something many of his predecessors could not do: he has changed the image of the national team. Everyone in England, whatever their background, gets behind his team, which was not always the case.
That is no mean feat, especially considering that Southgate's tenure has coincided with an extremely politically-fractured era. While he has been in charge, the nation has been through the divisive process of Brexit and cycled through five Prime Ministers, with a sixth potentially on the way before the Euros are over.
The country has also been through the trauma of the coronavirus pandemic, which it handled terribly. In an era of generally woeful political leadership, Southgate has been a beacon of hope.
His vision was set out in the letter he wrote to the country ahead of the last European Championship and which became the basis for the National Theatre play . On the eve of the next European Championship, it is worth reading again.
"Dear England, It has been an extremely difficult year," begins the letter. "Everyone in this country has been directly affected by isolation and loss. But we have also seen countless examples of heroism and sacrifice.
"It’s given us all a new understanding of the fragility of life and what really matters. When you think of the grand scheme of things, perhaps football doesn’t seem so important. And what I want to speak about today is much bigger than football."
Getty ImagesRallying behind his players
Southgate's letter to the country outlined a unifying vision of Englishness. "Regardless of your upbringing and politics, what is clear is that we are an incredible nation – relative to our size and population – that has contributed so much to the arts, science and sport," he wrote. "We do have a special identity and that remains a powerful motivator."
It also addressed the social media abuse his players received at the time, often of a racist nature. His words would unfortunately ring true at the end of the tournament, when Bukayo Saka, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford all received sickening comments after not scoring their penalties in the final. His words should make anyone who finds such abuse repulsive very proud.
He wrote: "Why would you tag someone in on a conversation that is abusive? Why would you choose to insult somebody for something as ridiculous as the colour of their skin? Why? Unfortunately for those people that engage in that kind of behaviour, I have some bad news. You’re on the losing side."
Southgate's backing of his players when they took the knee during the last Euros in opposition to racial inequality alienated a section of England fans forever. It also put him at odds with some members of the government, often the same people who claim to support the team while railing against immigration and multi-culturalism.
These people would rather England was a different country to the one that it is and would love to move the clocks back by several decades. But Southgate's England is a true reflection of the country in 2024 – and they are a far better football team for it.