My boys bothered over boss ? Plane daft
Gareth insists his contract is least of lads’ worries heading to Poland
GARETH SOUTHGATE claims England players “couldn’t care less” who their manager is.
The 51-year-old is under contract until next year’s World Cup but does not appear to be in a rush to sign a new deal, even though the FA want to tie him down until 2024.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said during this summer’s Euros they wanted to start negotiations straight after the tournament to remove any uncertainty and reward his remarkable progress.
But Southgate – who led England to their first Euros final two months ago after guiding them to the World Cup semis in 2018 – insists the players are not bothered.
The Three Lions boss said: “I wouldn’t think they could care less! They aren’t bothered who the manager is at club or country. One comes, one goes – the next one and they get on with it.
“So no, it’s not a distraction in any way, shape or form.
“I’ve got 14 months and if you can get through 14 weeks as a manager you have done well, so it really isn’t an issue.
“I enjoy working with the team and I would imagine we won’t even discuss that until after the autumn now.”
Southgate has not hidden his desire to one day move back into club management.
Taking charge of a big Premier League team would almost certainly guarantee a more lucrative deal than his current £2.5million a year contract.
The World Cup in Qatar would mark more than six years in charge for Southgate, the longest since Sir Bobby Robson, who had the job for eight years until 1990.
But the reason the FA are so keen on Southgate is he has overhauled the team’s success after the disaster of Euro 2016 when they lost to Iceland, he buys into the St George’s Park philosophy and he is on target to lead a new generation of talent to Qatar next November.
They face potentially their hardest match in Group I in Poland tonight.
But after five straight wins, victory would leave them potentially just needing two more to book their place.