The England National Team has always been stacked and one of the best if not the best on paper. Yet, they have only won one World Cup and have not won the Euros in their history. The era when Southgate took over England’s team as manager was the best part of his managerial career. However, let’s take a look at how and when Gareth Southgate started as a manager.
Immediately after retiring as a player at Middlesbrough, Gareth Southgate succeeded Steve Mclaren as manager in the 2006-2007 season. Southgate did not have the necessary coaching qualifications to manage a top-flight club like Middlesbrough which meant initially he could only coach them for 12 weeks. However, the Premier League board allowed a special dispensation for Gareth which allowed him to coach Middlesbrough. After acquiring his license and being appointed as the manager officially, Southgate had a decent run at Middlesbrough until the 2007-2008 season which was his best season. In the 2007-2008 season. Middlesbrough ended up finishing 13th in the Premier League table and to make things even better, they beat Manchester City 8-1 at home in the last game of the season. Unfortunately, in the very next season in 2008-200, Middlesbrough were relegated to the Championship and Southgate swore to get them back to the Premier League no matter how. In yet another unfortunate event, the club board sacked Southgate after a win against Derby County on 20th October 2009. This was very controversial and unexpected considering that Middlesbrough were just one point from the top after that win.
Gareth Southgate was not involved in football for 4 years after being sacked at Middlesbrough. He then replaced Stuart Pearce as the manager of England’s U-21 national team. After spending three years from 2013 to 2016 as the U-21 manager, Southgate expressed that he did not want to become the manager of the senior team. On 27th September 27th, Sam Allardyce resigned as the manager of the senior team which led to Southgate’s temporary appointment. The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification stages were going on at that time and there were only four games left. England under Southgate’s leadership picked up 2 wins and 2 draws which ultimately led to Southgate signing the contract to become the official permanent manager of England’s men football team. Gareth Southgate received quite some hate during his managerial tenure at England however he has definitely pushed the team into a place where it should be. Under Southgate, at the big tournaments, England reached the semi-finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup where they lost to Croatia, and the quarter-finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup where they lost to France. Gareth led the team to back-to-back finals in the 2020 and 2024 UEFA Euros as well.
Unfortunately, England lost both finals against Italy and Spain respectively. Both Italy and Spain won the finals in 2020 and 2024 respectively late in the match which was an even bigger blow for England. Spain celebrated in grand style after winning the Euros 2024 final against England and this loss only meant one thing for Gareth Southgate. The 2024 UEFA Euros was ultimately his demise because despite reaching the finals, England put in mediocre performances throughout the tournament. Despite having fairly easy opponents, England could not get a dominant resounding win and were often saved by individual performances from some players. The loss in the final sealed Gareth’s fate as England’s manager. Gareth’s run as England’s manager where he led them to a semi-final and quarter-final at the FIFA World Cup and two back-to-back UEFA Euros final is quite commendable.
The manager is now linked to Manchester United in 2026, after Michael Carrick's increasingly poor form with the club forced the hierarchy to look for other options who are free on the market. The English background helps, so Southgate could be seen heading towards the red side of Manchester soon.
Southgate transformed England’s team into what they should have been, in 2016 they used to struggle a lot but Southgate’s principles and leadership made them into a contending and resilient team. Gareth has also promoted many youth players into the senior team during his tenure which further fostered an even more positive culture within the team.
Gareth Southgate has often been criticised for his conservative and not very attacking-minded style of management. Gareth often changed the formation depending on the opponent. He mainly employed a 4-3-3, 3-4-3, and 3-5-2 formation.
Southgate has won quite some trophies as a player but is yet to win one as a manager. The two times he came close to winning one was with England at the UEFA Euros 2020 and UEFA Euros 2024 where they lost both the finals.
Gareth was born to Clive and Barbara Southgate on 3rd September 1970. Gareth’s parents were very supportive of his aspirations. At first, he aspired to become a journalist and then went on to become a footballer. Gareth married Alison Bird in 1997 with whom he has two children.
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