Maybe not quite the news Anthony Gordon wanted to wake up to…
With The Mail now reporting that their information is, that The FA want Gareth Southgate to sign a new contract extension regardless of the result on Sunday.
England playing Spain at 8pm on Sunday night, Southgate is potentially set to help England win the European Championships for the very first time in the history of the competition.
The Mail says (see below) that their info is that even if England loses the final, The FA are still desperate for Gareth Southgate to stay on.
Anthony Gordon arguably the most interested of all to see how this plays out.
Amongst the many bizarre things during this Gareth Southgate stumble to the 2024 Euros final via a series of unconvincing draws and narrow wins against poor to mediocre opposition, carrying massive luck, one of the really crazy things has been Gareth Southgate limiting Gordon’s involvement to one 89th minute appearance off the bench against Slovenia, when the Newcastle United instantly lit up what had been a woeful England team performance, Anthony Gordon with the pass of the match as it helped set up Cole Palmer for a late winner but he fluffed the one-on-one opportunity with the keeper.
With zero attacking threat down the left game after game, Southgate has continued to ignore Gordon, even as a late sub.
So if Gareth Southgate was to continue as England manager after this tournament, Anthony Gordon would have to fear the worst, after the appalling and bizarre way he has been treated by Gareth Southgate.
Whilst the media have predictably fallen into line and now declaring Southgate as a genius, for the fans it is a very different story. Obviously fans are pleased to see the team in the final but the team selections and usually negative tactics and clueless set-ups against a series of poor to average opposition, haven’t exactly convinced. Many/most England fans see Southgate simply as incredibly lucky that game after game they have played weak opposition, an easy group followed by avoiding all of Germany, Portugal, Spain, and France, as England fortuitously ended up in the other half of the draw with the likes of Holland, Slovakia and Switzerland.
In previous tournaments, as soon as Gareth Southgate has played a decent quality team, his luck has run out, and obvious failings exposed.
If he can buck that trend on Sunday and England win convincingly against Spain, then fair enough maybe. However, to keep Southgate in the job if the usual happens and England fails miserably once playing quality opposition, would be so depressing, not least for Anthony Gordon.
The whole Gareth Southgate and England management role is intriguing when you step back because…
If he leaves the England role, very difficult (impossible?) to see any Premier League club wanting Gareth Southgate.
Whilst if he leaves, very difficult to see an obvious candidate for the job, unless Graham Potter is willing to take it on, rather than make a return to club management as is widely respected.
Eddie Howe is the bookies’ second favourite for the job but zero chance he would leave a job like he has at Newcastle United, for the England one.
Back in the day, the England job was the very pinnacle in terms of management.
However, these past 20+ years have seen the likes of McClaren, Allardyce, Southgate, and Hodgson getting the job, as well as the desperate failed experiment of having been forced to look overseas with the lack of decent level English managers willing to do the job, with Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello proving to be disastrous appointments.
The Mail report – 11 July 2024:
‘The Football Association want to tempt Gareth Southgate into managing England at the World Cup regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s crunch final.
Southgate will lead the nation into the Euro 2024 showpiece in Berlin with uncertainty hanging over his future.
His current deal expires in December but any decision to leave would be made well in advance with England’s next set of fixtures scheduled for September.
There has been a growing feeling that Southgate would leave his position after the Euros amid discontent from the fan base towards his stewardship.
But England’s euphoric run to the European Championship final in Berlin this weekend, where they will face Spain, has reaffirmed the FA’s stance that Southgate remains the best person for the job.’
