Euro 2024 Final @02 Arena London

Got back late, edited this video, past 1am now so I’m too tired to breakdown why football didn’t come home this summer.
But let’s hope Southgate doesn’t end on a loss…
EDIT: Well I’ve woke up to news that Southgate has left, such a sad way for him to leave without any silverware. Not surprised that he’s leaving, and he was probably leaning that way during the tournament, when you consider the football played, and the abuse he received.
I want to quickly disprove two criticisms of Southgate first:
1. We didn’t have lucky pathways in every tournament, we underestimate our opposition and expect us to win all the time. (I do agree that our team is up there however, and our pathway in 2024 was easier, but we got to the final anyway)
2. This isn’t our best team ever, remember 1966? Even 2004
Once the hatred of his tactics start to calm, history will look on Southgate more favourably, as the second most successful England manager ever. He will also be remembered as the nearly man, who changed the culture of the team but was never proactive enough to give us that killer edge, which the best managers possess.
I hope that Southgate will be the manager who made the impossible job possible, for our next manager to win something. The manager who did a lot of work behind the scenes to change the things fans don’t necessarily see, similar to how Gary Speed changed Wales, or how Neil Kinnock changed the Labour Party in the 1980s.
Maybe that’s why Southgate is so hated, fans don’t see what goes on behind closed doors, which can cause a disconnect when players say they love him. Actual management is different to watching a game of football down the pub, we all think we can do it, but hardly any of us actually could.
And be careful what you wish for, many fans and media called for Sir Bobby to resign before the 1990 World Cup, with the abuse on a similar level to 2024. But look at him now, he’s basically a saint and nobody will say a bad word about him, even if they hounded him then. We also didn’t qualify for the 1994 World Cup, so things can get worse, and not necessarily better. (Same thing was true when Sir Alf Ramsey left, we had our darkest decade after him).
Football media and fans are reactionary (especially in England), so my advice to the next England manager is to ignore what everyone says and do it your own way. Much like what Southgate did, but after 8 years, even he started to feel the hate get to him (and he was used to it after his penalty miss in 1996). Southgate selected a team for this tournament most fans agreed with, still didn’t win the Euros. Started Kane in the final, nobody cared (because he’s one of the best strikers in the world), Kane plays badly, now people are complaining that he started. You can’t win.
The next England manager will most likely be English (and rightly so, this isn’t a club), but the FA seem more open about having a foreign manager than previous times after Hodgson and Allardyce. It seems the FA understands the criticism they got under Southgate for hiring managers who haven’t achieved anything.
I think Pep is a fantasy (salary), and Klopp would rather continue his well deserved break he only just started (although he is a fan favourite). Pochettino is secretly interested, and I think he would be our most likely foreign manager.
Howe and Potter seem the most likely English candidates. The FA would prefer Howe as he plays an attacking style of football that fans are crying out for (and how Spain just won the Euros), and qualified Newcastle into the Champions league (proven success), but he’s under contract at Newcastle until 2027, and it won’t be easy to convince him to leave such a club. Potter played attacking football at Brighton, didn’t get a chance to turn it around at Chelsea (they sack everyone) and has been unemployed for a while, so could be eager to manage again.
I reckon they will consider Pochettino, contact Howe first (I’m 50/50 on whether he will leave or stay at Newcastle), then hire Potter if Howe declines. Potter would probably do anything to get the job. If I was head of the FA, I’d do anything to get Howe.
All in all, there was no happy ending for Southgate, which is sad as I really loved his time as England manager. Before him, I remember finishing bottom of our group in 2014 and losing to Iceland in 2016. Before then, we didn’t even qualify for euro 2008. He came in, we’ve had semi final, final, quarter final, final. Two semi finals between 1968-2016. Three semi finals between 2018-2024. We’ve never been this consistent, and that’s how history will see it. And even though history suggests things could actually get worse now (post Sir Bobby, post Sir Alf Ramsey), I think we still have a good chance of ending 60 years of hurt, or failing that, win on home soil in 2028. One thing I do know though, is that it should be Sir Gareth Southgate for making the impossible job, look very possible indeed.
‘Looking back on when we first met….’