Gareth Southgate has taken us on one heck of a journey over the past eight years, but I suspect Sunday’s defeat by Spain will be his last game as England manager.
Right now Gareth will be hurting like hell after what happened in Berlin but my feeling is that, when the dust settles on the final of Euro 2024, he will decide he’s had enough.
It should be his decision to stay or go - and I think it will be - but it is a tiring job and he has been doing it for a long time.
If he does leave, he should go with his head held high because England are in a completely different place now compared to where they were when he took over in 2016.
England were at rock bottom after losing to Iceland and becoming a laughing stock that summer, followed by the embarrassment of Sam Allardyce’s exit after his short stint in charge.Gareth came in and put a smile on everyone’s faces - bringing the squad together, getting us to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and then the final of the European Championship in 2021, with a lesser squad than he had this time.
He put the team in a much better position mentally and the spirit he nurtured helped us get to the final again.
For achieving all of those things he deserves a huge amount of respect and gratitude, but it’s just unfortunate that - for all his excellent work - Gareth just wasn’t quite able to get the best out of this team in Germany, and that was the difference between us reaching another final and winning one.
My guess is – and it is only a guess – he may now say to someone else that it is their turn to try to get England over the line.
If he does, then he has put the team in an excellent position for someone to take the team forward, to take that next step and win a major tournament.
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