Gareth Southgate replacing Ten Hag as Man Utd manager is more realistic than ever – the only problem could be the timing

GARETH SOUTHGATE for Manchester United, so why the hell not?

The prospect - first floated in this column a month ago - is an ever-more realistic possibility.

Two of Southgate’s key allies, Dan Ashworth and Dougie Freedman, have been lined up as United’s sporting director and head of recruitment by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

More than anything, United require squad unity. They need a coherent culture where there has been a chaotic circus - the very essence of the job Southgate has performed during seven and a half years as England manager.

Also, Ratcliffe says he wants United’s squad to have an English core.

There are an unusually high number of very good English footballers right now and no prospective United manager would be more likely to attract them than Southgate, who holds the absolute confidence of England’s elite players.

And Southgate played a major role in improving the technical level of young English footballers in his FA work before he took the top job.

Late last year, Southgate took the uncharacteristic step of publicly stating he felt ready for a major club role in an interview with Sky, in which he insisted that no position in football holds greater profile or pressure than the England job.

There have been howls of derision from many United supporters about the very mention of Southgate for United.

Some of this is down to delusions of historic grandeur. United are not as attractive a proposition as they once were, there will be no Champions League next season, and whoever succeeds Erik ten Hag faces an extensive rebuilding operation.

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Another factor in the anti-Southgate sentiment is that the England chief does not fit the current stereotype for elite managers.

This states that they must show ‘touchline passion’, as well as maverick tactics, and that they most definitely not be English.

Roberto De Zerbi and Thomas Tuchel fit that criteria but both are firebrands who would not fit into United’s impending new structure nearly as well.

De Zerbi has overseen relatively minor improvement at Brighton - a brilliantly-run club, whoever the manager is.

Tuchel, meanwhile, looks likely to become the first Bayern Munich boss in 12 years to fail to win the Bundesliga.

Other criticisms of Southgate tend to focus on an outdated caricature of an overly-cautious manager who distrusts flair players and comes up tactically short in the biggest matches.

Yet England were anything but boring at the Qatar World Cup, where they had the highest goals-per-game ratio in the tournament and went toe-to-toe with defending champions France before they were eliminated because of Harry Kane’s missed penalty.

Southgate’s achievements are frequently overlooked - a first World Cup semi-final in 28 years, a first major final since 1966, competitive wins over Spain, Germany and Italy (twice) as well as a first World Cup penalty shoot-out success.

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And the basis of all that was the transformation of the England squad’s culture, as Southgate eliminated egomania, cliques, apathy and fear.

Which is pretty much the job spec at United.

Yet people forget just how bad, and how silly, the England national football team was for so long before Southgate arrived.

After that, we get to Southgate having led Middlesbrough to relegation in his only previous club role.

But Southgate was in his 30s then. He is now 53 and has been successful in a job long considered ‘impossible’.

And he actually enjoyed two decent seasons as Boro boss before a major reduction in the club’s wage bill played a significant part in relegation.

None of this will stop the scepticism among vast sections of United’s support.

Many people made their minds up about Southgate long ago and facts are rarely relevant.

Perhaps the greatest difficulty for Southgate will be timing, assuming that Ten Hag is sacked at the end of the season - and the Dutchman will need something extraordinary to save himself.

Southgate is contracted to the FA until December but there is an acceptance on both sides that he is likely to leave after this summer’s Euros - at which England and France are the two clear favourites.

United would not want to wait until the conclusion of that tournament in mid-July to appoint a new manager and neither Southgate nor the FA would want such a deal to be announced in advance.

Also, the unlikely prospect of one Iceland-style performance leading to England’s early elimination could make Southgate at United look ridiculous.

Still, many United supporters wouldn’t want Southgate, even in the more likely eventuality of England winning the Euros in style.

Billionaire Ratcliffe - with a ballsy attitude which comes from being the most successful man in any given room - won’t care too much about public opinion.

So, Southgate for United. The prospect is real and intriguing.

Why the hell not?

Arteta gamble pays off

FAIR play to Mikel Arteta, who signed David Raya because he felt that, while Aaron Ramsdale was an excellent shot-stopper, he was not good enough with his feet.

When Ramsdale got a chance against Brentford he proved his boss right - making two world-class stops but conceding a goal because he wasn’t good enough with his feet.

Raya couldn’t play because he is officially ‘on loan’ from Brentford, even though he is out of contract with the Bees next summer and a £27m fee for a permanent deal has been announced, with the Gunners agreeing an initial loan to circumvent FFP issues.

So Raya, unlike most loan players, cannot be said to hold any affiliation to his ‘parent club’.

Yet had Arsenal not scored a late winner, Ramsdale’s blunder for Yoane Wissa’s equaliser might have ended up as the incident which cost Arteta’s side the title.

This is clearly a nonsense. Either loan moves between Premier League clubs should be scrapped - perhaps with an exception for under-21 players - or this FFP loophole needs closing.

Saudi takeover

GEORDIE ARABIA’S stooge-in-chief Amanda Staveley says Saudi clubs will soon compete in the Champions League.

And she’s right. They will. Because there are too many people in football like Staveley, willing to bend over backwards to appease a barbaric regime because of money.

Hav it all

KAI HAVERTZ has scored in four consecutive league games for Arsenal, where Jorginho is also impressing, while Timo Werner has two in two for Spurs.

All three were supposed to have been ‘Chelsea flops’. But maybe Chelsea was the problem, not Havertz, Werner or Jorginho.

City issues

AN error from left-back Nathan Ake turned the tide of Sunday’s summit clash between Manchester City and Liverpool.

He’s a good player, Ake, but he’s not a specialist left-back. Likewise Josko Gvardiol, another centre-half who’s played much of the season at left-back.

In fact, City don’t have a senior specialist left-back on their books. Which begs the question ‘why not?’

Ref watch

THAT’S three consecutive 1-0 defeats for Nottingham Forest, with a crucial contentious refereeing decision going against them in each game - the latest being Brighton’s Jakub Moder escaping a clear red card on Sunday.

So the idea that Forest’s employment of former elite ref Mark Clattenburg might somehow help in this area is clearly not the case.

Box clever

SOME say that the idea of a 58-year-old Mike Tyson fighting a bloke off the internet represents a new low for boxing’s descent into freak-show status - but I say boxing hasn’t gone far enough.

So, on the undercard of Iron Mike versus Jake Paul, I’m proposing that the ghost of Rocky Marciano fights the former TV ventriloquist Bob Carolgees.