Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SOUTHGATE HOLDS ALL THE ACES
Three Lions boss ready to talk about a new deal and success puts him in a position of real strength
IT is the most infamous contract renegotiation in England managerial history.
Ahead of the 2010 World Cup, the FA agreed to remove a break clause in Fabio Capello’s £6million-ayear deal.
And the rest is, well, history.
Capello’s squad had a stinker and the FA were stuck with the most expensive coach they had ever hired.
But well before England take on the challenge of Qatar 2022, Gareth Southgate will sit down with FA chief executive Mark Bullingham and discuss an extension to a contract that expires after next year’s World Cup.
The discussions are widely seen as a formality and not long after qualification is rubber-stamped in
San Marino, expect a new package to be announced which will put the current England manager on an annual £5m until 2024.
But while Southgate understands the reservations created by the Capello debacle, he clearly believes his work over the past five years deserves a reward and the extra security.
He explained: “I think on the back of two tournaments and the progress made, it’s more acceptable to be having that sort of conversation.
“Equally, time-wise, because we needed to qualify, I didn’t think it would be right to be holding too much of those detailed discussions ahead of such a tight schedule of qualifying matches as well.
“I can understand people are always going to have a view of whatever way you do it, but we have tried to do it professionally by focusing on the Euros last summer and focusing on qualification, and then we will see where it leads after that.”
It will lead to a bumper new contract at the end of a year when the only time Southgate has led his side to a defeat was in the Euro final penalty shootout. And as he prepared to sign off 2021 with the formality of a win against San Marino, Southgate (below) took a moment to give himself and his squad a pat on the back.
He said: “We should never take qualification for granted. Italy are not confirmed, Spain are the same, Holland.
“There hasn’t been a lot of margin for error. We dealt really well with the games in Warsaw and Budapest, which were probably the key ones for qualification. We have responded well to every hurdle that has been thrown at us across a calendar year in which we have had total contrast in terms of the quality of opponent we have played.
“The mentality has been good. That is why in 90 minutes and extra time, we haven’t been beaten.
“That is a record we want to keep building on.
“We have got the best defensive record in Europe, in terms of goals to games.
“We are fourth in terms of goals scored and chances created.
“It is a good challenge to try to improve on it tomorrow.”
And that is why Southgate wants to end the year with another emphatic England performance before signing his new deal.
He added: “Whenever you are bringing in players, you always want stability so those players can flourish.
“We have set a very high standard of performance and we have got to continue that.”