Gareth Southgate has signed a new deal as the manager of the England national team for three years. The 51-year-old is the most successful manager of the national team in over half a century.
Last week, England qualified for the 2022 World Cup by finishing at the top of their group. In the final game of the qualifiers, they decimated San Marino 10-0 to seal qualification.
Southgate was initially in charge temporarily after Sam Allardyce left the job, managing only one game. But, his appointment was made permanent afterwards. And since taking over in 2016, he led the Three Lions to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The following year, he led England to a third place finish in the 2019 Nations League.
This summer, he led England to the finals of the Euros, but ultimately missed out on the trophy to Italy. Nevertheless, the team has improved a lot under Southgate and look like genuine contenders for the World Cup in the winter.
Here is what Gareth Southgate had to say about the team during his time in charge:
‘I think what you hope, you want sustained success and when you look at the top nations who’ve won over years and years, Germany, Italy, France… they have odd fallow years but are generally contending for major tournaments.
‘We have to make sure the team constantly evolves. We are now in a group of teams we believe can genuinely challenge. Six, seven years ago we went with hope, but now we can be genuinely positive.
‘We know expectation is higher but that’s good, the team is better than they were three years ago.’
