Southgate fits the bill for Man Utd and Spurs – he will be the first England manager in 20 years to leave with enhanced reputation
TWO interesting facts about Gareth Southgate: he never gets to a match late and he never leaves early.
You’ll remember all those other England managers turning up at Premier League games, casting an eye over one or two native players, then heading off after 70 or 80 minutes to beat the traffic.
Not Southgate, though. Southgate is in the boardroom before and after matches, and he tends to do a lot of listening, gleaning information, building relationships, occasionally offering an opinion if asked.
And he usually attends matches alone, so that he finds conversation with club officials and other key footballing figures.
Southgate doesn’t take this approach to further his own career beyond England.
But next summer, when he’s likely to be on the market, there will be few Premier League directors who do not know, admire and trust Southgate.
Managing England has never been a stepping stone to the stars.
After leaving the “impossible job” Sam Allardyce and Roy Hodgson both found their next employment at Crystal Palace, Sven-Goran Eriksson and Kevin Keegan at pre-Abu Dhabi Manchester City.
Fabio Capello and Terry Venables moved on to lesser national roles with Russia and Australia.
Glenn Hoddle turned up at Southampton, Graham Taylor at second-tier Wolves and Steve McClaren perfected his comedy Dutch accent with FC Twente.
But as the first England boss for more than 20 years to fully enhance his reputation in the position, Southgate is likely to be different.
The England manager was relegated with Middlesbrough in his only previous club job — though he was fresh out of the dressing room and in charge of a club tightening belts, having overspent.
In 2013, Southgate failed an interview at League One Sheffield United for being “too nice”.
Try telling that to Wayne Rooney, Joe Hart, Jack Wilshere, Chris Smalling, Kyle Walker and many other players treated with ruthlessness these past three years.
Southgate has made it clear that, while he is 100 per cent committed to leading England into the Euro 2020 finals, he is unlikely to continue beyond that tournament.
The Three Lions chief will turn 50 this time next year and will have been out of club management since his 30s.
He also has a strong bond with his No 2 Steve Holland, who is effectively in a part-time role and itching to get back on a club training ground. While Southgate’s focus will remain, his sense of ambition — just like that ruthless streak — is easily underestimated.
So, especially if his England reign continues to flourish, Southgate will hold realistic hopes for a top-six job next season.
Manchester United and Tottenham are two clubs where his face certainly fits.
The job of genuinely restructuring United — a task never properly taken on in the post-Ferguson era — would appeal to him especially.
Southgate’s key managerial credentials are an emphasis on passing football, promoting youth, an ability to make tough calls decisively and the emotional intelligence to deal with elite players.
These all make him a strong candidate for a major club role — despite his lack of Champions League experience and the continued snobbery of many big-six fans towards English managers.
It has been instructive to hear both Southgate and United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer talk about Marcus Rashford recently.
Solskjaer spoke with vagueness about his struggling forward — ‘He wants to play on the left, through the middle, as a No 10, as a right winger’.
Meanwhile Southgate spoke far more analytically — how Rashford was best as a “wide raider”, playing through the inside-left channel and how he had to utilise his blistering pace more effectively rather than dropping back in search of the ball.
It was one small example but a typical one. Southgate often has a clearer vision of a player’s abilities than their own club managers.
It will all be a matter of timing, of course. The United job may fall vacant too early for him, as Solskjaer struggles. The Spurs job may not be available soon enough.
Yet Mauricio Pochettino is clearly restless — and should he go next summer, without Spurs winning a trophy, might Harry Kane, by then nearly 27, start seriously considering his own future?
Perhaps not if Southgate — who made him England captain and in whom he trusts implicity — were to replace the Argentinian.
Should neither job be available, Southgate would be keen to move abroad — despite his own lack of foreign language skills.
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He has been full of admiration for English players who have gone overseas — quick to reward Jadon Sancho with a call-up after his move to Borussia Dortmund and recall Kieran Trippier after he joined Atletico Madrid.
Southgate’s horizons are broad and his career trajectory is rising.
Sometimes it simply helps if you stay to the end.