Is Gareth Southgate the right man for the job?

Do England fans believe that experience is the key for the England job ?

Profile on Gareth Southgate

When Southgate was presented the England job on an interim basis to overlook qualifiers against Malta, Slovenia, Scotland and a home friendly against Spain. Many would believe that the young English coach could be given the nod from the FA, to take the job up to the World Cup in two years time.

Southgate is the perfect man for the job in the FA's eyes, due to their previous work between the two. Southgate knows the Football body inside out through his work with the under 21’s, he has also been an England international between 1995 to 2004.

Southgate also knows how to speak to the press in a proper manner, without losing his cool or saying something controversial. There is a great chance that the former Middlesbrough player/ coach could see us through the World Cup in Russia.

Other candidates

When you look at other candidates a lot of English fans have doubts over them, a lot of people believe it is too early for Eddie Howe the young Bournemouth manager. While on the other hand Glenn Hoddle has been linked to take the job for a second time, may fans believe this would be a backwards step. Arsene Wenger and Jürgen Klinsmann have also been linked with running nation’s first team, many critics have hit out saying that the national team should be run by an Englishman.

How he did for Middlesbrough and the England under 21's

How he did in Looking at Southgate’s managerial record he started at a club he knew inside out Middlesbrough. He lasted three years on Teesside between 2006 and 2009, where he finished 12th in his first season and just outside of the relegation zone the year after. In Southgate’s third season the club got relegated to the Championship, the fans were calling for his head.

There was controversy when he did get the sack the following year, in October 2009 Southgate guided Middlesbrough to fourth place and a point off the top.Therefore, there was many eyebrows raised when the Hertfordshire born manager, got the boot after what seemed a good start to the season to get the club back in the Premier League.

Moving on forward to 2013 Southgate became the England under 21’s coach on a three-year contract. During his short time at the under 21’s, he led the team to the Under 21’s European championships in 2015. The team underperformed, where they were knocked out in the group stage. However, the following year he did what no under 21’s manager did in the past 22 years, by going on to win the Toulon Tournament beating France 2-1 in the final.

Conclusion on Gareth Southgate

If you’re looking at his record it shows that he is not management managerial with some under achievement. However, he also shows that he can work wonders given time to sort things out, during his time at Teesside he built his own squad up and they got relegated.

He was given the benefit of the doubt and was doing well the season after, where he was given his marching orders which was shock to Middlesbrough fans.

It was a similar situation with the under 21’s, where he qualified for the championships but underachieved massively with a strong squad. However, he was given the benefit of the doubt by the FA, where he repaid them by bringing home the Toulon tournament the year after. The FA should stick by him and give him a chance to see how far he can take us, because we’ve reached one quarter final since the World Cup in 2006 which isn’t good enough.