Newcastle fire hands-off warning to England over Eddie Howe – but even Toon legend Shearer says he’s the man for the job

IT will take a while for me and every England fan to get over this, writes Jack Wilshere.

To come so close to winning that trophy, only to be beaten in a second Euros final in a row, is a huge disappointment.

Especially when it really felt like this was our time.

It seemed that everything was coming together for us to end the long wait for a major title.

But Spain deserved it. They were the better team in the final and the best team of the tournament.

We will all — supporters, players, coaches, the FA — have to move on and go again.

Because English football is still in a good position.

Gareth Southgate has taken us to two finals, a semi-final and a quarter-final in four tournaments. We have never produced a run like that before.

The challenge now is to maintain this level of competitiveness and make England even better.

Southgate and his staff have done a fantastic job in changing the whole environment and narrative around the national team.

Now Gareth is gone, the wider culture he has put in place must be preserved.

This tournament was the biggest test of that culture the team had to go through.

They overcame the problems and went all the way, only to fall at the final hurdle.

But there is every reason to believe we can challenge at the World Cup in 2026 and beyond.

We’ve got a really good group of players, many of them young, who can go on playing and performing for England for years.

Jude Bellingham, Kobbie Mainoo, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer — to name just five — have plenty more tournaments in them.

This tournament will also be an inspiration for the next generations of players. Unfortunately there isn’t the trophy lift to take that to a completely different level.

But England have delivered moments in Germany that will be replayed forever.

The Bellingham overhead kick and Ollie Watkins’ semi-final winner will be recreated in playgrounds and cages up and down the country.

What I would like to see now is England continuing to develop, to become a team that can consistently dominate opponents and can give a real identity to English football.

We now have players who are comfortable on the ball and technically very good.

The biggest disappointment of the tournament was that we didn’t see that as often as we would have liked. That leaves us with a ‘what if?’ feeling.

England must not lose that old-school mentality of finding a way to win even when you’re not playing well — that never-say-die spirit which got us through this Euros more than once.

But the next step is to allow other qualities to shine through, to give the players that our system is creating the platform to show  everything they can do.

The job for me and for other coaches is to keep producing players that are comfortable on the ball and understand how to perform under pressure at a high level.

English football is in a good place but we need to keep going. Then we will finally get over the line.

Real all of SunSport columnist Jack Wilshere's Euro 2024 columns...

But what were the best - and worst matches - from the popular gaffer's eight-year reign before that devastating Sunday night in Berlin? Here we take a look.

THE HIGHS:

Colombia 1-1 England (3-4 on pens,) 2018 World Cup

This was the night that long-suffering supporters finally started to believe that it was coming home.

Despite conceding a late equaliser, England held their nerve to advance to the quarter final of the World Cup 2018 on penalties.

It was our first shootout victory for 22 years.

Spain 2-3 England, 2018 Nations League

Following on from the World Cup, England won in Spain for the first time in 31 years with a brilliant Uefa Nations League victory.

Southgate’s boys stunned the Seville crowd into silence with a thrilling performance that saw them lead 3-0 at the break thanks to a Raheem Sterling brace and Marcus Rashford.

Although the hosts scored two after the break, the way the Three Lions tore La Roja apart excited every fan.

England 2-1 Denmark, Euro 2020 semi-final

Southgate led England to their first major final in 55 years as they beat Denmark after extra-time in the Euro 2020 semi-final.

Having fallen behind after half an hour, the Three Lions battled back to send it to extra-time courtesy of an own goal.

Then it was captain Kane who converted a rebound after Kasper Schmeichel originally saved his penalty in extra-time to win it.

England 3-0 Sengal, 2022 World Cup last 16

England had already blown Iran and Wales, 6-2 and 3-0 respectively, away in the World Cup 2022 group stages before they breezed past Senegal.

The free-scoring Three Lions recorded another big win to set-up a mouthwatering quarter-final against France - what could go wrong?

Italy 1-2 England, Euro qualifiers, 2023

On a night when Harry Kane became England’s all-time top scorer, the Three Lions recorded a first away win over Italy since 1961.

It was the first game since their 2022 World Cup exit, and it ensured a perfect start to their Euro 2022 qualifying campaign.

England 2-1 Holland, Euro 2024 sem-final

The nation doubted Southgate's men in the semis of Euro 2024, but they responded with a barnstorming display.

Xavi Simons opened the scoring for the Dutch but Harry Kane's penalty drew us level.

And Ollie Watkins slotted in a brilliant winner in injury time to see the Three Lions into their second successive Euros final.

AND THE LOWS....

Croatia 2-1 England, World Cup semi-final, 2018

Having led England to a first World Cup semi-final since 1990, Southgate men made a dream start as Kieran Trippier put them ahead in the early exchanges.

But Ivan Perisic equalised as the Croats began to take control.

Some of Southgate’s substitutions were then questioned after his team were beaten in extra-time, although many gave him the benefit of the doubt as he returned a hero.

Italy 1-1 England (3-2 pens) Euro 2020 final

Will probably never get a better chance to have secured a trophy for the Three Lions than this final of the last European Championship.

Luke Shaw gave us the lead after just seconds, but just like against Croatia three years earlier, we sat back and let our rivals back into it.

Leonardo Bonucci duly equalised in the second half and the game eventually went to penalties.

The unfortunate Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were all brought on to take a spot-kick, but the brave trio all missed as the Azzurri broke our hearts to take the prize.

England 0-4 Hungary, Nations League 2023

A year on from the Euros and it was utter embarrassment for Southgate in this Nations League game at Molineux.

It was our biggest home defeat since 1928 and the result led to England being relegated from the top group of the Nations League and back to one that contained the Republic of Ireland, Finland and Greece.

England 1-2 France, World Cup 2022 quarter-finals

Another case of what could have been.

Having been free-scoring throughout Qatar 2022, many fancied us to go all the way at the World Cup despite taking on the holders in the quarters.

We fought back from going behind to level through Kane and many believe that France were then there for the taking had Southgate deployed a more attacking approach.

Instead, they seemed content with what they had until Olivier Giroud pounced 12 minutes from time to win it.

But there was still one more twist of the knife for England as the usually-reliable Kane skied a late penalty over the bar uncharacteristically as we crashed out.

There is a natural preference to appoint an English successor.

And in an ideal world, the England manager should always be English. But this is not an ideal scenario.

So the FA must be ambitious in sounding out the best man for the job, regardless of nationality.

Because England need a manager who would gain instant respect with players, who would be tactically bold enough to take on Spain and a strong enough character to deal with Jude Bellingham’s Real Madrid Galactico status, which threatens to cause future issues within the England squad. Yes, when the FA have gone foreign in the past, it hasn’t worked out well.

Yet the problem with Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello was that neither had any previous involvement in English football.

They lacked knowledge and understanding of the football culture — indeed, Capello barely spoke the language.

Now there is a wealth of overseas managerial talent with significant Premier League experience, including Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino, Carlo Ancelotti and Thomas Tuchel.

Read more from Dave Kidd on who England should turn to.

GARETH SOUTHGATE deserved to win a trophy as England manager, write Shaun Custis.

Unfortunately, you don’t always get what you deserve in life.

No man could have worked harder to give the country the silverware it craved and no man cared more about our national team.

As a player he went through agonies after missing that fateful penalty against Germany at Euro 96 — and victory as a manager in the Euro 2024 final against Spain on Sunday would have been a wonderful redemption.

Southgate himself said he didn’t believe in fairytales — and there was to be no happy ending as ultimately England came up short again when it mattered.

But his legacy should be one of great achievement, not of failure.

This is an England boss who transformed our feelings towards the Three Lions.

Hardened fans, who claimed they only cared about their club, fell back in love with England during Gareth’s eight years in charge.

As The Sun’s chief football writer, I followed England through the Sven Göran Eriksson era, on to Steve McClaren, then Fabio Capello and Roy Hodgson.

None of them could hold a candle to Southgate.

Southgate took it on reluctantly and, when the FA then wanted to make his position permanent, he made it clear he had to have free rein to do the job on his terms.

This was to be a new England with no club cliques, no wars with the media and an openness and honesty from coaches and players.

He never believed it was the impossible job as many claimed before him.

Yes, the Euros was a let-down and England were probably lucky to make the final.

But Southgate, by some distance, turned his England team into the most successful since Sir Alf Ramsey’s World Cup winners of 1966.

He gave us plenty of entertainment and fun along the way and a reason to feel proud.

We were even starting to crack it at penalty shoot-outs.

Most importantly, Southgate was a thoroughly decent human being throughout it all, treating everyone with respect — whether you were a player, a fan or part of the media.

Read Sun Head of Sport Shaun Custis' full opinion on Gareth Southgate's England exit...