GARETH’S MALT TEASER
Southgate won’t come clean on England future
AS Gareth Southgate spoke, a window cleaner began washing a pane outside the room at St George’s Park.
But it was still far from clear yesterday whether or not Southgate wants to be England boss full-time.
He has 32 days to persuade the powers-that-be, the public and punters he is the man for the job.
But yesterday Southgate was hardly transparent, leaving the impression he also has to convince HIMSELF he wants the role.
The former Middlesbrough manager stepped up from the Under-21s to take over as senior boss in the wake of disgraced Sam Allardyce’s departure.
He has this Saturday’s game against Malta, further World Cup qualifiers with Slovenia and Scotland, and a Spain friendly to make up people’s minds – including his own.
In the summer, the 46-year-old ruled himself out of succeeding Roy Hodgson, saying, “It wasn’t a route I felt I was ready to take”.
That despite him having had three years bossing Middlesbrough and four coaching England’s under-21s.
Less than a month after uttering those words, he was at the FA’s training base evading questions about whether he hoped to stay on after his quartet of games as interim boss.
“I’ve not had time to think that through,” he said about the prospect of leading England to the 2018 World Cup in Russia. “Six days ago I was preparing for Kazakhstan and Bosnia with a different squad, with a different support team.
“There’s been no time to think forward and actually I don’t think it’s right to think too far forward.
“I think it’s right to focus on what we’ve got to do this week, then for the games coming up. Then everybody has time to breathe, the organisation has time to breathe. Then people will assess the job I’ve done.
Assess
“They’ll assess ultimately on results, but from my point of view, it will be important to assess how we’ve dealt with every situation we’ve been put in.
“Then they can make a decision. I’m in a privileged position that I will then know a lot more about the role and everything that it entails.”
Insisting “this situation is different” to the one in the summer, Southgate looked reasonably confident as he made his first appearance as boss of the seniors. Southgate, who was wearing a grey suit, light blue openneck shirt and brown brogues, is seen as one of the most mild-mannered managers in the game.
In a joint autobiography with former Crystal Palace goalkeeper Andy Woodman called ‘Woody and Nord’ – Southgate was nicknamed ‘Nord’ after ’80s TV presenter Dennis Norden for his deliberate way of talking – he reveals how much he likes a cream tea, hardly a typical favourite in the macho world of football.
But he insisted he has what it takes to make tough selection decisions.
“If you go back to Middlesbrough, at the age of 35 with no coaching experience, standing in the dressing room with Mark Viduka, Mark Schwarzer and Jonathan Woodgate, I was nowhere near the level I am now, nowhere near,” he said.
“Yet we finished 12th and 13th. Now you get highprofile names in the Premier League finishing in those positions.
“I look at the squad and I have worked with most of them. You have to treat the players respectfully, especially big players. But you have to make firm decisions.
“We have made firm decisions with the under-21s over the last couple of years. I accept it’s not quite the same as some of the big players, but the principles are the same.”
He also insisted he knew how to give people a rollicking.
“I think it has an effect if it’s rare. People are shaken out of the mental state they are in because perhaps they aren’t expecting it,” he said.
Asked to give an example of him using the ‘hairdrier treatment’ he added: “I don’t think it is for me to say, ‘I’m that, I’m that’. I’m sure there are players who would tell you.”
Southgate’s unveiling came in sharp contrast to the brash and cocky Allardyce’s debut exactly five weeks earlier.
The most positive thing he said was: “I am not here to be a tourist. I’m not here to look at it and enjoy it and say, ‘Oh, isn’t it wonderful.”
Despite that it was impossible to tell whether he truly wants to apply for that Russian visa in 2018.