SOUTHGATE HAS TO RESIST THE LURE OF UNITED

THE last, the only, England manager to renege on his contract for what he considered to be a better job was Don Revie and history has not been kind. It is understandable if Gareth Southgate is under consideration at Manchester United, but he would not be afforded wider sympathy if he encouraged their advances. Revie became a pariah after walking out on England to manage the United Arab Emirates, and Southgate would not be quickly forgiven, even if his destination was closer to home. Manchester United are a great club and managing them is a great opportunity. Yet so is taking England to what amounts to a home tournament, Euro 2020. Southgate’s handling of this young England team has converted cynics and earned him new-found respect, but the public can turn just as quickly if they feel misled. United supporters may consider their club bigger than England. The rest of the country does not. And Southgate would be letting his players down if he dumped England for club football in tournament year. His fine words would appear hollow, the bond he has forged with this young, ambitious group exposed as a sham. Southgate would depart with his backroom staff, most importantly first-team coach Steve Holland, and that would leave the FA high and dry with no obvious successor. No matter the positives of recent campaigns, it would be back to square one. Yes, football is a fickle industry. Southgate, like all managers, would be jettisoned if he failed. Yet, to this point, the FA have been very good to him. They showed faith and offered an opportunity when clubs of Manchester United’s stature did not want to know. They bought into his ideas, his philosophy, helped build his rebooted England with smart communications strategies. They have stayed loyal to his predecessors, such as Roy Hodgson, in adversity, too. One imagines, even if Southgate could not repeat his last-four World Cup finish in 2020, the FA would remain supportive. Nothing deserves desertion, or even drama, and if Southgate is half the man he is imagined to be, he will not consider testing them this way.