Hello and welcome back to The Overlap Newsletter! It ended in heartbreak for England in Berlin as Spain lifted the Euro 2024 trophy. England came from behind for the fourth game in a row when Cole Palmer’s goal gave The Three Lions a glimmer of hope, but Mikel Oyarzabal’s late winner sealed Spain’s victory. This was the second European Championship final loss that proved to be Gareth Southgate’s last as England boss. But with Southgate taking England to one World Cup Semi-Final and two Euro’s Final’s in his 8 years in charge, he has definitely left England in a far greater place for whoever takes over next. Watch the latest episode of Stick to Football at the Euros in Berlin over on the Overlap YouTube channel and you can catch up on our terrestrial aired episodes throughout the tournament on ITVX. Listen to the latest episode of It Was What It Was following the link below, as Jonathan Wilson and Rob Draper take an in-depth look into the incredible story of Dezso Solti, a man who survived Auschwitz and then became a notorious match-fixer. Later today we will have a bonus IWWIW episode where journalists Jonathan and Rob give a reflective piece on Gareth Southgate, focussing on his last tournament as England boss at Euro 2024 and where he ranks amongst England’s greatest ever managers:
Quiz Question…
Name every England manager since Sir Bobby Robson
Answer to follow at the end of the Newsletter…
There aren’t many England managers who get to choose how they leave. So it's testament to what Gareth Southgate achieved that he's quitting now on his terms…
Sir Alf Ramsey was sacked. Terry Venables walked away when the FA wouldn’t guarantee a contract extension. Sir Bobby Robson quit on a high after Italia 90, but only after the pressure on him became so intense that he was forced to announce he was leaving before the World Cup. Don Revie fled to the United Arab Emirates while the job eventually ground down Sven Goran Eriksson and baffled Fabio Capello.
So Gareth Southgate has done something no-one has managed in my lifetime, leaving the England job by choice, his reputation enhanced and with the FA keen for him to stay. He earned the right to make that decision. He has transformed the England national team. I was part of the coaching team that lost to Iceland in 2016. That was a huge low point for English football, which was followed by the appointment of Sam Allardyce and his dismissal after one game. We were a laughing stock.
Back then we would have thought it nothing short of a miracle to reach two finals, a semi-final and lose unluckily to France in a quarter-final over the next eight years. It would have been insanity to make that projection.
Southgate did so much more than steady the ship. He has turned it around and taken it into deeper waters. There are some who continue to say he is the reason why we haven’t won a tournament. To that, I would say we would have never been in these finals without Southgate.
I played with him and then worked with him, when he was Under-21 manager and I was assistant to Roy Hodgson. People tend to say that Southgate is a man of great integrity, decency and honesty. He is all of those things. But don’t go away with the impression that he can’t be brutal when he needs to be. The “no dickheads" rule, coined by the All Blacks, has been applied by Southgate more ruthlessly than any England manager I’ve known. He has not tolerated characters who wouldn’t buy into the team ethos.
He removed the idea that you need to play Champions League football to play for England: this squad had four Crystal Palace players in it. He took big decisions in the early days leaving out Wayne Rooney and Joe Hart and at this tournament leaving Marcus Rashford, Jack Grealish and James Maddison at home. He is a decent man but, if form dropped, he didn’t pander to fan favourites.
He’s handled penalties better than any England manager, brought the players together more than anyone, ended the club cliques in the dressing room and the “them versus us” feud with media. He created that team spirit and the culture that allowed England to get over the line in tense moments where previously teams, like the one I played in, fell short. He’s embedded good habits and laid strong foundations for the next manager to build on. These are the qualities of a superb leader.
He nearly got there. He came so close on two occasions.
I’m sure he will always have a sadness and regret that he couldn’t step over the line against Italy and Spain. But that’s life, a series of great moments and big disappointments. That doesn’t make him a loser to me, especially in international football, where you only get the chance to win every two years. For me he is a winning manager, even if he doesn’t have a gold medal round his neck.
The one thing that will trouble him are those games against Croatia, Italy and Spain, the three most-important games in his England career and the three games in which England have had the least possession in his time, with 46 per cent, 39 per cent and 37 per cent respectively. Chasing the ball does wear you out in a final at the end of a long tournament. Southgate said it immediately after the game. “We weren’t good enough on the ball.” That should be the title of England’s Euro 24 performance review
It’s been an issue for England teams for more than 20 years. For some reason, we have to go behind before we risk going forwards in the biggest games. And when we do score, we retreat again, pulling up the handbrake. It seems to be the English mentality. Even if he has found it hard to break that mindset and fix that one remaining detail.
It is the right time to go. When I heard him say during the tournament that it was an ‘unusual environment’, I thought his time was up. For the first time, you have seen him and the players get involved in the weeds, questioning critics and giving the impression that media negativity was bothering them.
I’ve been at 12 major tournaments as a player, coach and pundit. I’ve been around England long enough to smell when things aren’t quite right. I was hearing things in press conferences that I know would have created levels of division. I think he was maybe dealing with issues behind the scenes that will have contributed to his thinking.
He had built the whole ethos on everyone being the same, but it didn’t feel like that this time. More like he was having to whack a mole to keep some people in line. He’s managed big characters in the past, but this squad has egos that will require a lot of energy from the manager in order to harness their best form. It won’t only be about managing players but an entourage.
But that’s for the next manager. Right now, we can ony be grateful for what Southgate has done. And the legacy he has left.
Stick To Football Euros - Behind The Scenes
Who is the most underrated player you played with?
Denis Irwin. Not because people don’t think he’s good, It’s just they don’t realise how great he was.
Quiz Answer:
Graham Taylor (1990 - 1993), Terry Venables (1994 - 1996), Glenn Hoddle (1996 - 1999), Howard Wilkinson (1999 - 2000), Kevin Keegan (1999 - 2000), Peter Taylor (2000 - 2001), Sven-Goran Eriksson (2001 - 2006), Steve McClaren (2006 - 2007), Fabio Capello (2008 - 2011), Stuart Pearce (2012), Roy Hodgson (2012 - 2016), Sam Allardyce (2016), Gareth Southgate (2016 - 2024)