Gareth Southgate opens up on his doubts to continue as England manager due to constant criticism from fans

England manager Gareth Southgate has been pretty decent with the Three Lions in the last few years. England showed a good brand of football at the World Cup in Qatar despite bowing out against France in the quarterfinals. It was a tough match and they played really well and on their day they would have progressed forward. The Three Lions also reached the finals of the Euros in 2020 where they were defeated by Italy on penalties.

But despite all these achievements the England fans have been very critical of their team and especially Gareth Southgate and his brand of football. The English team was booed off the pitch at the Molineux following their 4-0 defeat against Hungary in the Nations League in the build up to the World Cup.

Sharing his decision to stay on as the manager of the England team, Southgate highlighted the importance of taking sometime after the World Cup as he wanted to make sure that his presence does not affect the team in any negative way.

“I never want to be in a position where my presence is affecting the team in a negative way. I didn’t believe that was the case, but I just wanted a period after the World Cup to reflect and make sure that was still how it felt,” He told BBC Sport.
He shared that he asked himself if the project must go on and whether he is fresh and hungry enough to achieve the goals. The answers were positives and hence Southgate has stay on as the England boss. He described this role as the biggest privilege of his lifeand felt that the decision was not that difficult as he had performance and progress in front of him to give him confidence in the team and also in himself.
Southgate highlighted how it was a tough period for him as the fans criticized the team and the manager as England went to the World CUp in Qatar following their relegation from their Nations League group. Hence Southgate questioned himself and his role and whether he was the right man for the job.
“I knew I had support with the players and [the FA], there are bigger things at stake with England than just [that]. My only concern… was when it feels like there might be division between what the fans want and where my position might have been, that can affect the team, and I was conscious of that leading into the World Cup.
“I felt we had great support, but I was conscious… how would things be during and after?”
However the Three Lions recovered before the World Cup but Southgate was not sure that if his presence was ruining the whole thing for the team and whether it was right for him to stay on as the manager for his team. He shared how he gave himself time and allowed the motions to settle. “You need to give yourself time in these situations to make good decisions,” he said. “I think it’s easy to rush things when emotions are high, and very often you have to sleep a little bit more and come to the right conclusions.”
Southgate currently is focused on making improvements to the team as he will stay the ENgland manager atleast till the 2024 European Champions that is to be held in Germany. With the talent coming up in England, Southgate will have an array of options to choose from and they genuinely must feel as a contender because they will have such personnel in the roster as we move closer to the tournament.