Southgate the saviour

When England was eliminated from the European Championships in France last summer there was a sense that the nation couldn’t fall much lower.

Roy Hodgson resigned in the wake of that humiliating defeat to the valiant Icelanders allowing a fresh new dawn after four years in charge.

Sam Allardyce was the man selected dividing opinion amongst supporters. Harking back to the days of Brian Clough the FA apparently never wanted an ‘old school’ man at the helm yet Big Sam had apparently shown enough tactical nous to warrant a punt and had earned his chance.

The ‘glass half full’ brigade were convinced that the modern day professional footballer needed a motivator rather than a great tactician although there was also a clamour for free-flowing, attacking football that would give them something to cheer about.

Yet his reported annual salary was insufficient having been ‘entrapped’ by a UK newspaper sting (not the first after Sven Goran Eriksson was caught by the ‘Fake Sheikh’) while also been caught offering advice as to how escape the FA’s stringent ownership rules and player transfers.

He left with a perfect record having negotiated a tricky away-tie at Slovakia although was dependent upon a last-gasp injury-time winner from Adam Lallana. The 67 days in charge of his ‘dream job’ meant he also missed out on the opportunity to lead the team out on home turf at Wembley Stadium.

While it was a turgid affair some of the more light-hearted statistics he leaves behind are that his side averaged 20 shots on goal per game and never conceded a shot on target while Sturridge and Walcott achieved a 100 per cent pass-ratio and Cahill, Walker and Henderson were perfect with their tackles.

The single game in charge cost the FA approximately £3m they paid Sunderland to secure his services, £550k salary and a reported £1m severance. While much more minor they also had to scrap 4,000 T-shirts they had planned to giveaway as a goodwill gesture.

With World Cup qualifiers around the corner the FA moved quickly to appoint a caretaker with a remit to bring a fresh broom with Gareth Southgate beating a familiar path from the U21, following in the footsteps of Peter Taylor and Stuart Pearce, both of whom were appointed as caretaker and both who lost.

The advantage of moving to the national team having managed the youngsters is that it provides an ideal insight to the ‘next generation’.

Southgate certainly has pedigree having represented his country for eight years as a player, accumulating 57 caps before steering the U21s as a manager to a win ratio of 80 per cent while also claiming the prestigious Toulon tournament in the summer. He could not have wished for an easier start than a Wembley appearance against Malta, a side ranked 176 in the world.

Former Bahrain national coach Taylor famously handed a debut to six players including Rio Ferdinand and Emile Heskey while handing the captain’s armband to David Beckham for the first time.

Southgate chose to turn to a man who has scored spectacular and important goals for him in the past, Jesse Lingard.

He also returned the armband to another man at the centre of a national debate, Wayne Rooney.

Allardyce, the supposed man-manager, questioned ‘who am I to tell Rooney where to play’ before being forced to apologise for his remarks as Rooney claimed he had been ‘battered’.

While his performances have changed from those when he made his debut as a 16-year-old, the Scouser has scored 14 goals and provided two assists in the 15 England matches prior to the game against Malta.

He is England’s all-time leading goal scorer and in the time that he has made his mark, only Danny Welbeck has reached double figures.

Rooney was appearing for his seventh different national manager. In a quirk of fate, the four that appointed him captain were sacked. The only ones to have escaped were the two that dropped him and Southgate was about to follow in their footsteps as GulfWeekly went to press!

Southgate has been quick to stress that he was not afraid to drop this football piñata who, in time, will be remembered as a legend.

Despite the records, in my opinion, his time is past, at least for the time being.

He may well be younger than Ronaldo who scored four goals for Portugal at the weekend, but he is clearly no longer considered to be a forward, the position in which he has done so much damage in the past.

If he can return to Manchester and warrant selection as a midfield creator – he still has the ability to hit pinpoint 40-yard cross-field passes – then he could be worth selecting again.

But there is no room for sentiment as he aims to beat former goalkeeper Peter Shilton’s all-time record of England appearances.

Which brings us nicely to who should be appointed as England boss at the end of Southgate’s reign?

Arsenal’s French veteran coach Arsene Wenger, despite many nominating him, has suggested that the FA should appoint an Englishman.

I am not sure why that would be necessary. The argument is that it takes an Englishman to mould the English side as you need to understand the psyche.

Arguably, the same could also be true for cricket and rugby (union) although in the hands of Bayliss and Jones two Australians appear to be doing quite well.

While I cannot think of anyone from Down Under that would qualify on the footy front, whoever is handed this well-paid job could do worse than consult them.

Southgate has three more matches to make his mark with the most prominent likely to be the World Cup qualifier at Wembley against Scotland on November 11 in a game that will go a long way to determining whether he is allowed a longer audition.

Win comfortably and I suspect his appointment will be extended, probably until the end of the qualifiers. However, lose and he will be under pressure.

He will have to learn to live with others being linked to his job. There are plenty of good managers in England at the moment although there is a great difference between someone that is allowed to take time to shape their squad through acquisitions at club level and someone that can work with what they are given when only meeting the players occasionally throughout the season.

The tried and trusted has not worked for 50 years for England and I believe that they need a bold new approach rather than a big personality.

What has worked for other English national sporting teams is a willingness to break with the traditional set-up and challenge it while introducing new ideas farmed from around the world.

While I have a tremendous respect for Wenger I don’t believe that he would be the right appointment and I am not convinced that the likes of Mancini (spotted in the crowd for the Malta match) would bring anything new.

The names of Howe, Pochettino and Koeman have all been suggested and, while great young managers, tend to take time to get teams playing in a particular style.

Southgate has been given time so let’s wait and see what he brings – not just on the pitch but also off it.

I believe that from a playing perspective England’s future lies with a talented generation of younger footballers and, given the success they have enjoyed with him and the mutual praise lavished, he is ideally placed to lead them forward.