Gareth Southgate has promised England fans that his lack of histrionics on the touchline doesn’t mean he isn’t bothered about winning. As the England manager closes in on Sir Bobby Robson as England’s longest serving manager since Sir Alf Ramsey, there is a lot of talk about legacy.
Malta, his first opponents in 2016 are back at Wembley for his 90th game – just five short of Robson’s tally between 1982 and 1990. Certainly the international situation is world’s apart from the one he inherited after Euro 2016 and that transition is seen by many as achievement itself from his time in charge.
But not for Southgate. “I don’t get up at five in the morning and come home from games at three in the middle of the night because I’ve got no interest in winning,” he said. “I don’t feel the need to explain it, it’s just implicit in everything that you do.
“I may not scream and be like a banshee on the sidelines but that doesn’t mean that you want to win any less than other people. That said – I’m not too fussed about the Monopoly games at home, frankly. I don’t mind conceding the odd one of them.”
Southgate is not playing games. It may be Malta and England may have already qualified but the England manager wants to be among the top seeds in Germany and, with Kalvin Phlllips only joining up with the squad on Thursday night for personal reasons, he will otherwise name his strongest squad.
Following such a strong qualifying campaign, England will go to the tournament as one of the favourites. However, it irks Southgate that he still faces doubts over his ability to lead England over the final hurdle and achieve major trophy success at senior level.
After all, he has answered every question that has been asked of him so far and – as he himself makes no bones about pointing out – not everybody could.
“You take charge of one of the most high-pressured jobs in world football and have to manage some of the biggest matches in world football,” Southgate said. “There is only a World Cup final that we haven’t done.
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“You take charge of one of the most high-pressured jobs in world football and have to manage some of the biggest matches in world football,” Southgate said. “There is only a World Cup final that we haven’t done.
“I am sure there will have been a lot of doubts some years ago whether I was capable of doing that and of course, there will be other doubts people will have and that will always be the same.
“You will always have questions asked of you but as a person, and as a coach, you will always learn through every experience you have and every day will throw a different challenge and you are learning all the time.
“We have dealt with those challenges and that pressure which can sometimes really inhibit people. Frankly, a lot of people could not cope with that pressure so I feel pleased we have shown that we can do that.
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