A Look Back on Gareth Southgate’s Reign as England Manager

In September 2016, England's football team was a mess. Roy Hodgson had resigned after England's shock 2–1 defeat to Iceland. This was the biggest tournament humiliation for the Three Lions since losing to the U.S. amateurs in the 1950 World Cup. To add salt to the wound, Sam Allardyce resigned after just one match (67 days) in charge of the Three Lions because of 'silly' comments about how to get around player transfer rules. Then the FA turned to Gareth Southgate to manage an England football team in disarray.

Unlike Eriksson and Capello, Southgate wasn't a foreign outsider to the English game accepting the England gig just for the money. He had been heavily involved in shaping the future of English football since 2011 when he became Head of Elite Development. Southgate also became manager of the England under-21 team in 2013. This spell as under-21 coach gave Southgate more intimate familiarity with the future generation of England players than Eriksson and Capello ever had.

During his tenure as Head of Elite Development, Southgate played a key role in implementing changes to youth coaching in English football. This included a restriction on kids playing full-team 11-a-side matches until they were 13. Even then, Southgate spoke of changing the culture of the England team when he said, "Rather than insisting to clubs, saying we want mandatory release of players, we'd like players to want to come and play in England squads." England won the 2017 under-17 FIFA World Cup, a triumph Southgate had helped sow the seeds of during his time as Head of Elite Development.

However, winning a trophy as manager of the senior England football team is a completely different ball game. Nobody has done it since Sir Alf led the Three Lions to glory at Wembley in 1966, and England were well short of that mark in 2016. Bobby Robson and Venables had gone closest to emulating Ramsey at Italia 90 and Euro 96, but German penalties thwarted England in the semi-finals of both tournaments.

Southgate was only supposed to be a temporary appointment for a few months until the FA found a permanent manager to replace Allardyce. Yet, England's early results under Southgate, which included a 3–0 rout of Scotland in the World Cup qualifiers, were encouraging. Those results convinced the FA to make Gareth England manager permanently.

World Cup Revival in Russia

Southgate began rebuilding England after becoming a permanent manager. He is credited with generating an almost club-like bond between players in the England camp. England players started to enjoy playing for their country again rather than it being an annoying diversion from club commitments. Ashley Young, who was in the England squad for the 2018 World Cup, said, "Gareth has totally changed what it is like to be with England."

England's qualification for the Russia World Cup was relatively smooth, with the Three Lions topping their group by a two-point margin. However, the first real acid test for Southgate came in the World Cup finals. The 2014 and 2016 tournaments from Hodgson's reign had been crushing disappointments, with England crashing out in the group stage in Brazil and losing to Iceland in the second round of Euro 2016.

What we saw from England at the 2018 World Cup was a significant improvement on what had gone before. England beat Tunisia 2–1 with a late Harry Kane goal, and then the floodgates opened with a 6–1 hammering of Panama. The Three Lions scored five goals in the first half against Panama to record their biggest-ever win in a major tournament. Those wins secured England's place in the second round despite losing against Belgium in the third group game.

What followed was even better from England. The Three Lions actually won a penalty shoot-out after drawing 1–1 against Colombia in the second round. This secured England's first win in a tournament knock-out game since the 2006 World Cup. England had also overcome the penalty shoot-out hurdle that had cost them dear in six previous tournaments dating back to 1990. Southgate had seemingly got England practicing penalties more rigorously than before.

A 2–0 victory against Sweden in the quarter-finals sealed England's place in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup. That was as good as it got for England in Russia as they succumbed 2–1 to Croatia. England went a goal ahead in a good first half for the Three Lions, but Croatia emerged victorious with Mario Mandzukic scoring the winner in extra time.

Penalty Heartbreak at Wembley

The 2018 World Cup gave England new optimism for Euro 2020, which UEFA pushed back to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. England had cruised through the qualification stage, winning seven out of eight qualifier matches and scoring 37 goals. The fact that England would have home Wembley advantage for most of their games in a unique Euro tournament with 11 host nations was all the more encouraging for the Three Lions.

Everything went unusually smoothly for England in this tournament from the first game to the final. There was one 0–0 blip against the Scots in the group stage, but England still made it through to the second round with 1–0 victories against Croatia and the Czech Republic. The Three Lions beat Germany 2–0 in the second round, their first tournament knock-out win against the Germans since 1966. England gave Ukraine a 4–0 thrashing in the quarter-finals and eliminated the Danes 2–1 in the semi-finals with a late penalty, booking their place in a first tournament final since 1966.

Southgate was now the messiah of English football. What we saw from him in this tournament was a degree of tactical flexibility that some of his predecessors seemingly didn't possess. The 4–2–3–1 was his preferred formation for most games, but he didn't stick rigidly to four at the back. Southgate switched to three defenders with a 3–4–3 formation against the Germans when needed. This was a welcome change from the prosaic 4–4–2 and 4–3–3 days of the Capello and Hodgson England eras.

However, a trophy was still a step too far for the Three Lions despite taking an early lead against Italy in the final. Bonucci leveled for the Italians in the second half as England seemingly let their opponents get a grip on the game. The stalemate that followed led to another penalty shootout for Southgate's men. This time England seemed ill-prepared for the most crucial shoot-out of all, from which they converted only two of their penalties. Consequently, a beatable Italy team that failed to qualify for the Qatar FIFA World Cup lifted the trophy at England's expense.

England Fall to France in Qatar

England's Euro 2020 campaign may have convinced some they were equipped to go all the way at the Qatar FIFA World Cup in 2022. However, a poor UEFA Nations League campaign considerably deflated optimism before that tournament. England finished bottom of their 2022 UEFA Nations League group. The low point of that campaign (and perhaps Southgate's entire reign) was England's 4–0 home defeat against Hungary. This was a result reminiscent of England's crushing 6–3 loss to Hungary (otherwise the Mighty Magyars) at Wembley in 1954.

However, the Qatar FIFA World Cup was a relatively positive tournament for England even though they fell slightly short of the semis on this occasion. The Three Lions scored plenty of goals in their matches against Iran, Wales, and Ghana. The 6–2 and 3–0 wins against Iran and Wales secured England's place in the second round. England reached the last eight with a comfortable 3–0 win over Ghana in the second round.

A slightly unlucky 2–1 defeat against France ended England's Qatar campaign. Tchouameni put the French ahead in the first half, but England bounced back after the break when Kane equalized from the spot. Giroud restored France's lead, and then Kane missed another golden chance to equalize when he blasted a second penalty over the crossbar.

So Near Yet So Far in Euro 2024

Euro 2024 was Southgate's last chance to end England's trophy drought, with his contract due to expire after the tournament. Much was said about England's performances during the first four games of Euro 2024. However, the Three Lions still got the results needed to progress with a 1–0 win over Serbia and a couple of draws against Denmark and Slovenia. A few fans tossed plastic cups at Southgate after the Slovenia match.

England's Euro 2024 tournament almost became a disaster when they were a goal down against Slovakia after 90 minutes. However, Jude Bellingham saved England with a moment of acrobatic brilliance to equalize in injury time. Kane's winning goal in extra time secured a sloppy 2–1 win.

Southgate made tactical changes after that match. He stuck with the 4–2–3–1 formation from previous tournaments for the first four games of Euro 2024. This changed to a 3–4–2–1 formation in the quarter-final against Switzerland and in other England matches that followed. England played somewhat better against the Swiss, but it was still a close game that ended 1–1 after extra time. However, the Three Lions got through with a perfect 5–4 penalty shootout.

The Euro 2024 semi-final against Holland turned out to be Southgate's crowning moment as England manager. The Three Lions put in their best performance of the tournament to emerge victorious after going a goal down in the first half. A Kane penalty made the score 1–1, and Ollie Watkins' memorable late winner from a tight angle secured a 2–1 victory for England. This victory made Southgate the first England manager to win a tournament semi-final on foreign soil.

Alas, Southgate and England couldn't make history again in the Euro 2024 final against Spain. The Spanish were a bit too good for England and dominated possession throughout. England defended solidly in the first half to keep the score at 0–0. Nico Williams put Spain ahead early in the second half, but England recovered to restore parity with a fine goal from Palmer. However, Oyarzabal's late goal sealed a 2–1 win for Spain.

Southgate Resigns as England Manager

Southgate resigned as England manager shortly after the Euro 2024 final. An originally temporary appointment was one of England's longest-serving managers, managing the team for 102 matches over eight years. England won 59.8 (approximately 60) percent of their matches during his reign. That's the fifth-highest win rate of an England manager, with Fabio Capello, perhaps a little surprisingly, topping the list with a 67-win percentage.

However, tournament results are the most important barometer for any England manager. Southgate is the only England manager in history to guide the Three Lions to two tournament finals. He was the first manager to get England to a European Championship final and win a tournament semi-final on foreign soil. These are significant historic milestones that must at least make Southgate England's second-best manager.

The only thing Southgate didn't accomplish was to win a trophy for England. For that reason, Alf Ramsey remains England's legendary golden manager alone. However, sometimes forgotten is that his reign ended in disaster with England failing to qualify for the 1974 World Cup after a 1–1 draw against Poland at the Twin Towers. This was a big blot on Ramsey's copybook, somewhat overshadowed by the glory of England's 1966 triumph. In comparison, Southgate's reign has ended with a best-ever tournament for the Three Lions outside of England.

Southgate has gone closer than any other England manager to winning a trophy since the glory days of the 1960s. Yet, some of the media and fans have still complained about England not winning a tournament with a supposed new golden generation of players, such as Bellingham, Foden, and Saka.

This article of mine was originally submitted to Medium.com, where you can read it here.