Gareth Southgate hints it is win or bust at Euro 2024
Gareth Southgate accepts this summer’s European Championship will likely be his last tournament at the helm unless he is able to lead England to glory.
The 53-year-old took charge of the national team at one of their lowest ebbs, having been stunned by Iceland at Euro 2016 and seen Roy Hodgson’s successor Sam Allardyce swiftly exit.
Southgate has managed to right the ship, leading England to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and quarter-finals four years later as well as going within a penalty shoot-out of winning Euro 2020.
But Southgate accepts consistently high performances are not enough as they look to become just the second men’s team to bring home a major trophy following Sir Alf Ramsey’s 1966 World Cup heroes.
“If we don’t win, I probably won’t be here anymore,” he told German publication Bild. “Then it might be the last chance.
“I think about half of the national coaches leave after a tournament - that’s the nature of international football.
“I’ve been here for almost eight years now and we’ve come close. So, I know that you can’t keep standing in front of the public and saying ‘please do a little more’, because at some point people will lose faith in your message.
“If we want to be a big team and I want to be a top coach, then you have to deliver in the big moments.”
Euro 2024 is the fourth and final tournament covered by Southgate’s contract as his Football Association deal expires later this year.
The England boss has been linked with the Manchester United job but has said he will not speak to anybody about his future until after this summer’s finals in Germany. That includes the FA as he knows a contract extension before a major tournament can provide an unnecessary distraction, using Fabio Capello’s extension before the 2010 World Cup as an example.
Asked if he could have signed a contract extension before the tournament, Southgate said: “No. The reason is that there would have been more criticism, which would have put more pressure on the team. England did that once before with Fabio Capello, and there was a big drama before the tournament. It’s better to check yourself after the tournament.”
n Luke Shaw and John Stones trained as England's Euro 2024 preparations stepped up yesterday. Southgate has been dealing with fitness issues and absentees in the build-up to this summer's tournament.
But all 26 players trained yesterday as England went through their paces for the first time since arriving in Germany the previous night.
A couple of hundred people watched on at Ernst-Abbe-Sportfeld in Jena, where Shaw and Stones took part in the session.
The former went off with a knock halfway through Friday’s 1-0 friendly loss to Iceland but has seemingly shaken off that potential issue. Shaw also trained as he steps up rehabilitation from a series of hamstring issues he has been dealing with since mid-February.
England kick-off their Group C campaign on Sunday against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen, before taking on Denmark and Slovenia.
