THE Gareth Southgate era is almost certainly over.
And unless the FA are seriously bold in their search for his successor, then these last eight years will soon be viewed as a golden age for the England team, lost forever.
There is a natural preference to appoint an English successor.
And in an ideal world, the England manager should always be English. But this is not an ideal scenario.
If, as expected, Southgate quits in the coming days, there would be no obvious English candidate.
So the FA must be ambitious in sounding out the best man for the job, regardless of nationality.
Because England need a manager who would gain instant respect with players, who would be tactically bold enough to take on Spain and a strong enough character to deal with Jude Bellingham’s Real Madrid Galactico status, which threatens to cause future issues within the England squad. Yes, when the FA have gone foreign in the past, it hasn’t worked out well.
Yet the problem with Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello was that neither had any previous involvement in English football.
They lacked knowledge and understanding of the football culture — indeed, Capello barely spoke the language.
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Now there is a wealth of overseas managerial talent with significant Premier League experience, including Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino, Carlo Ancelotti and Thomas Tuchel.
Manchester City boss Guardiola and Real godfather Ancelotti are managing the best two club sides in the world and are unlikely to leave their posts to take on Nations League fixtures against Republic of Ireland, Finland and Greece.
But if you don’t ask, you never know.
Whatever it was in Klopp’s life that made him leave Liverpool, the German clearly wants a lengthy break. But England’s next meaningful fixtures are not until March.
As an adopted Scouser, Klopp might not fancy it and he would certainly be a divisive figure among the media. But he is an intriguing candidate. Again — don’t ask, don’t get.
Poch is available and he has helped to nurture a substantial number of England’s players over the past decade — including Harry Kane, Kyle Walker, Luke Shaw and Cole Palmer.
The Argentinian would make an excellent England boss. Except that he is Argentinian. Which doesn’t bother us much but does the Argentinians.
Anti-English feeling can still run deep in his native land. Take this job and he might never be able to go home.
Tuchel, a Champions League winner, is available and keen but the German is a combustible character.
IT will take a while for me and every England fan to get over this, writes Jack Wilshere.
To come so close to winning that trophy, only to be beaten in a second Euros final in a row, is a huge disappointment.
Especially when it really felt like this was our time.
It seemed that everything was coming together for us to end the long wait for a major title.
But Spain deserved it. They were the better team in the final and the best team of the tournament.
We will all — supporters, players, coaches, the FA — have to move on and go again.
Because English football is still in a good position.
Gareth Southgate has taken us to two finals, a semi-final and a quarter-final in four tournaments. We have never produced a run like that before.
The challenge now is to maintain this level of competitiveness and make England even better.
Southgate and his staff have done a fantastic job in changing the whole environment and narrative around the national team.
Whether Gareth carries on or not, the wider culture he has put in place must be preserved.
This tournament was the biggest test of that culture the team had to go through.
They overcame the problems and went all the way, only to fall at the final hurdle.
But there is every reason to believe we can challenge at the World Cup in 2026 and beyond.
We’ve got a really good group of players, many of them young, who can go on playing and performing for England for years.
Jude Bellingham, Kobbie Mainoo, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer — to name just five — have plenty more tournaments in them.
This tournament will also be an inspiration for the next generations of players. Unfortunately there isn’t the trophy lift to take that to a completely different level.
But England have delivered moments in Germany that will be replayed forever.
The Bellingham overhead kick and Ollie Watkins’ semi-final winner will be recreated in playgrounds and cages up and down the country.
What I would like to see now is England continuing to develop, to become a team that can consistently dominate opponents and can give a real identity to English football.
We now have players who are comfortable on the ball and technically very good.
The biggest disappointment of the tournament was that we didn’t see that as often as we would have liked. That leaves us with a ‘what if?’ feeling.
England must not lose that old-school mentality of finding a way to win even when you’re not playing well — that never-say-die spirit which got us through this Euros more than once.
But the next step is to allow other qualities to shine through, to give the players that our system is creating the platform to show everything they can do.
The job for me and for other coaches is to keep producing players that are comfortable on the ball and understand how to perform under pressure at a high level.
English football is in a good place but we need to keep going. Then we will finally get over the line.
Real all of SunSport columnist Jack Wilshere’s Euro 2024 columns…
The FA, so used to a smooth, clubbable diplomat like Southgate, might baulk at the man who has just left Bayern Munich.
So looking abroad might not work out but it’s an avenue which has to be explored.
Because there isn’t much of a field among English, even British and Irish, bosses.
Graham Potter is the bookies’ favourite but the ex-Chelsea manager, who hasn’t worked for 15 months, is Southgate Lite.
Nice bloke, emotionally intelligent, tactically cautious but without the vast international back catalogue Southgate brought to the job — with 57 caps as a player and spells as Under-21s boss and as an FA backroom operator.
Eddie Howe would have been Southgate’s likeliest successor had he parted ways with Newcastle this summer after a season of regression on Tyneside.
But Geordie Arabia’s overlords have stayed loyal to Howe, who would be unlikely to walk out on such a wealthy and ambitious club, even though he would like a stab at the England job in the future.
COLE PALMER came off the bench to be England’s star man – but his heroics were unable to stop heartbreak against Spain, writes Tom Barclay.
Mikel Oyarzabal struck a late dagger through the hearts of the Three Lions to seal a 2-1 Spanish victory.
And that ensured that 58 years of hurt will go on.
Here’s how SunSport’s Tom Barclay rated each England player in the crushing defeat:
Jordan Pickford: 8
Carefully controlled a blast of a backpass from John Stones on his line in the first half. Could do little to stop Williams’ opener but made two terrific stops to deny Yamal, only for Oyarzabal to poke home at the death.
Kyle Walker: 6
Had his hands full with Williams but managed the Spanish livewire pretty well but could not get near his powerful opener.
John Stones: 8
A colossus again as he played every single minute of this Euros, despite lack of Manchester City game-time. Superb block on early Williams shot, was often in the right place at the right time and at one point dribbled all the way up the pitch.
Marc Guehi: 6
Solid alongside Stones and overall it has been a brilliant first tournament for the Crystal Palace star. But Oyarzabal nicked in front of him for the winner.
Bukayo Saka: 7
Most consistent attacker for England across the tournament and had a good battle with pantomime villain Marc Cucurella here. It was his cross that Bellingham laid off for Palmer to work his magic.
Declan Rice: 7
Went past his boss Gareth Southgate’s cap haul by winning his 58th here and he is still only 25. Was in the thick of it in the midfield battle throughout.
Kobbie Mainoo: 5
Just 19 and starting a major final for England in the middle of midfield. Fewer bursts forward though than in recent games as his side struggled for possession and was subbed for Palmer as Southgate searched for a leveller.
Luke Shaw: 7
Looked so sharp for a player making his first start since Luton away on February 10, winning his battle against Lamine Yamal in the first half. But Yamal got the better of him after the break to tee up Williams’ opener.
Phil Foden: 6
Out of possession it was his job to man-mark Manchester City colleague Rodri, until the Spanish maestro went off injured at half-time. Had a half-chance just before the break but could not beat Unai Simon.
Jude Bellingham: 7
Shunted wide left when England did not have the ball – which was a lot of the time. Riskily flew into a few tackles, but it was his clever lay-off that teed up Palmer.
Harry Kane: 4
His lack of involvement was summed up by England fans calling for Ollie Watkins in the 57th minute. They got their wish on the hour.
SUBS:
Ollie Watkins: 6
Semi-final hero was introduced far earlier here to get some legs in behind, though he did not have too much impact this time.
Cole Palmer: 9
What an impact after emerging with just twenty minutes to go. Yet another of Southgate’s subs paid off handsomely as Palmer curled a peach of an equaliser with 17 minutes remaining, sending most of the Olympiastadion potty.
Ivan Toney: 6
Thrown on right at the end but could not make an impact.
Gareth Southgate: 7
The game was a chess match for the first half and Southgate was never going to go early with his bold moves.
His subs were excellent to be fair, with Palmer brilliantly getting his team back into it.
Critics will say England did not play attacking enough but Spain are one hell of a side – and Southgate’s men pushed them all the way.
After that we are left with Frank Lampard, who fits the profile in terms of international experience and excellent media skills.
The only slight drawback is he doesn’t seem to be a particularly good manager.
Current England U21s boss Lee Carsley — who won the European Championships last summer — is also highly regarded within the FA.
But the Brummie-born former Everton midfielder won 40 caps for Ireland and, at the age of 50, he has never been the full-time manager of a men’s team.
Steve Cooper, a Welshman who guided England’s U17s to the 2017 World Cup and was a success at Nottingham Forest, would have been a serious contender had he not just taken over at Leicester.
Brendan Rodgers is another who should be in with a shout.
The Celtic boss is a Northern Irish Catholic, which matters more than it should with some people.
IT now seems as though he really is cursed. Along with the rest of us, writes Charlie Wyett.
Tragically, unbelievably, Harry Kane’s agonising search for a trophy still continues and you know have to wonder whether he will ever actually manage it.
Certainly for England, in any case.
Kane has now suffered defeat in three major club finals and two finals of the European Championships.
Last night, the Three Lions captain was so ineffective that he was replaced by Ollie Watkins just after the hour.
Like much of this tournament, he really struggled to make the impact when England needed him, not that he had much service.
He had one shot in the first half and that was Rodri, who subsequently injured himself and went off at the break.
When Cole Palmer struck that brilliant equaliser, Kane was off on his feet from the bench, only for the national team to get another kick in the bo**ocks at the end.
Kane was substituted in both the games against Switzerland and Holland which England went on to win but on this occasion, he could only witness a gut-wrenching twist just when it looked as though Gareth Southgate’s team had dug their way out of trouble.
The Bayern Munich striker suffered the World Cup 2018 semi-final loss against Croatia, endured heartbreak against Italy in the Euro2020 final and then missed from the spot in the World Cup 2022 quarter-final against France.
He really thought that this was his time, even though England did not play well in Germany.
Kane will know that he will have more opportunities with England. But not many more.
The World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico seems a long way away and it will surely be under a new manager. Will England be better than they are now? Probably not.
And we are all left to wonder how much better England would have been with a fit and firing Kane at his very best.
Read the full verdict on the curse of Harry Kane…
Or check out all of Charlie Wyett’s Euro 2024 stories…
But he is a forward-thinking, media-friendly manager who would tick a lot of boxes with the FA. England may have reached a second successive Euros final in Germany but in performance terms they regressed from the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
In the Middle East, Southgate’s side played boldly and played well in four matches out of five, including their narrow quarter-final defeat by defending champs France.
That was a game England could easily have won. Sunday’s final against Spain had the same 2-1 scoreline but the gulf between the teams was vast.
Across the tournament, England played well in three halves of football out of 14 and they were fortunate not to meet a world-class team before the final.
Yet still, Southgate’s record of two finals, a semi-final and a quarter in four tournaments is historically excellent.
When you look at potential candidates and the job spec and you consider the preference for an English boss to fit in with the FA’s coaching talent pathway, there is one man clearly best suited to leading the Three Lions into the next World Cup.
And I’m sorry to disappoint you but that man is Gareth Southgate.
AFTER Harry Maguire was ruled out through injury, there were obvious concerns about Marc Guehi’s place in the England starting line-up at the Euros.
It felt a big ask for a player with little international experience — and with no previous in European club football — who had missed three months through injury at the back end of the domestic season.
But the Crystal Palace centre-back was mostly excellent as England reached a first final on foreign soil.
Guehi looks like being an England regular for years to come.
DURING the Euros, myself and three colleagues made a habit of listening to classic England tournament songs in the car on the way to matches.
Given that three out of the four of us are serious about good music, this was done in an ironic way.
However, I’m still infected by an earworm of England’s 1982 ditty This Time (We’ll Get It Right) as I sit at Berlin Airport departure gate. The squad can be seen warbling it on the right.
So let’s be grateful that the Three Lions no longer head into the recording studios before tournaments.
