- Author, Simon Stone
- Role, Chief football news reporter
England manager Gareth Southgate said “now was not the time” to announce if he would stay on as manager after defeat by Spain in Sunday’s Euro 2024 final.
Southgate has been in charge since 2016, a reign that has taken in two World Cups and two European Championships. The Football Association wants him to stay, but his contract ends in December.
Despite reaching the semi-final of the 2018 World Cup and two Euros finals, Southgate has faced some criticism.
How long will Southgate take to decide?
No-one can be sure about this. Southgate has a contract until December, so in theory there is no time pressure.
However, with clubs about to start pre-season and less than five weeks to the start of the 2024-25 Premier League campaign, there is an obvious reason why it would be beneficial to have clarity sooner rather than later.
When do England play next?
England’s next game is against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin in the Nations League on 7 September.
The September, October and November international double-headers are reserved for Nations League games.
The 2026 World Cup qualifying round draw is set to take place later this year with matches beginning in March 2025.
Who will help make the decision?
The Football Association’s technical director John McDermott will be a key figure.
McDermott was head of academy, coach and player development at Tottenham for 15 years before moving to the FA in 2020, initially as assistant technical director to Les Reed.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham and chair Debbie Hewitt are the most senior non-football figures at the organisation.
There is no David Dein or David Gill-type presence on the FA Board, someone with day-to-day expertise at the ‘sharp end’ of football administration.
EFL chair Rick Parry is on the FA Board and may provide useful input, while Jobi McAnuff is also on the FA Board. He had a 20-year playing career across eight clubs, as well as representing Jamaica.
Will they have planned ahead?
Almost certainly there will be an outline plan. But the FA has not been in this position since 2016, when Roy Hodgson resigned after the embarrassing Euros exit to Iceland.
Back then, Sam Allardyce came in but only lasted 67 days before he was sacked. Southgate was promoted from England Under-21 boss initially on an interim basis.
It is a measure of how much has changed since then that Alan Pardew and Steve Bruce were contenders for the job, while Greg Clarke was the FA chair and Martin Glenn the chief executive.
What are the other factors? What are they looking for?
Image source, Getty Images
The FA has ploughed millions into St George’s Park, with one of the stated aims for it to become an “inspirational centre for coach education, raising standards in coaching and elevating it as a profession”. Still no English coach has won the Premier League.
No English coach was appointed into any of the five top-flight vacancies that existed this summer, although Leicester’s Wales-born manager Steve Cooper did win the World Cup as England Under-17 coach in 2017. Eddie Howe has been the highest-placed English coach for the past two seasons with Newcastle finishing fourth in 2022-23 and seventh last term.
If Southgate is to leave, should the replacement be English – and also keep a keen eye on the development teams as Southgate has done – or someone from overseas, who is only interested in the senior team, as Fabio Capello and Sven-Goran Eriksson did?
As Southgate can testify, the job is one of the most scrutinised in world football, so is top level experience – as a player, or manager, or both – essential?
These are the issues the FA must wrestle with as Southgate makes up his mind. As ever, getting rid of a coach is the easy bit. Sorting out a replacement is far more difficult.