Gareth Southgate makes stunning England job admission after knighthood

Gareth Southgate has admitted he does not miss managing England following his decision to step down from the role last summer.

Southgate resigned following England’s 2-1 defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 final, ending his eight-year reign as manager of the national team.

Mail Sport reported ahead of the tournament that the FA wanted Southgate to stay on until the World Cup in 2026, but he admitted in December that his mind had been made up ahead of Euro 2024.

Southgate was asked by the BBC as to whether his misses coaching the national team, after he had received his knighthood from Prince William at Windsor Castle on Wednesday.

The 54-year-old gave the honest admission that he is relieved to no longer be shouldering the responsibility of managing the England team.

‘It is a little bit strange [watching the team] but also I’m not missing it’ Southgate said.

‘I think it’s important that I am on that sofa and out of their way, you know. It’s theirs to take on now and I think it’s important that I give the team as much space as possible.

‘I think it’s hard to describe because until that weight’s gone you don’t necessarily realise just on a day-to-day basis, you know, every hour of my day was thinking about how do I make England better, what’s happening with the players, how do we do things differently.

‘So I think [that like] any leader of big organisations, you’re constantly thinking about how to do your job as well as you can.’

Southgate was succeeded by Thomas Tuchel, who has been tasked with delivering World Cup glory next summer in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The former Three Lions boss refused to be drawn on Tuchel’s criticism of England’s performances under Southgate at Euro 2024.

Speaking ahead of his first match in charge of England in March, Tuchel had claimed the the national team had lacked ‘identity’, ‘hunger’ and ‘excitement’ at Euro 2024.

Southgate was recognised for his services to football in the New Year Honours and officially received the knighthood today at an Investiture ceremony.

As England boss, Southgate led the Three Lions to the finals of Euro 2020 and 2024 as well as the semi-final of the World Cup in 2018.

Southgate becomes the fourth England manager to be knighted, after Sir Walter Winterbottom, Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson.

Following the 2-1 final defeat to Spain at Euro 2024, Southgate stepped down as England manager after eight years in charge.

‘It’s an amazing privilege,’ Southgate told Sky Sports after receiving the honour from Prince William, who had served as FA president during his time as England manager.

I have to say I was more emotional than I thought I would be, but an amazing experience for my whole family today.

‘The lovely thing is you get to meet so many people who have done incredible things for our country, so to meet other award winners was very, very special.

The Prince has been an incredible supporter of the England team, we have been fortunate to have shared some amazing moments and some disappointments where he has spoken so brilliantly to the team, it was great to see him again.

‘[I thought] about everyone who has helped me on the way, coaches from when I was a player, obviously my family who have given me an incredible grounding in life and my wife and children who have been so supportive in everything I have done.

‘Then everyone I have worked with along the way, all of the staff and all of the players.’

In total, Southgate took charge of 102 matches as England boss and is the only manager of the men’s team to lead them to two major tournament finals.

The Euro 2020 final, held in 2021, ended in a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy at Wembley.

England fell short at the final hurdle against last summer with a narrow defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 showpiece in Germany.

Southgate had earned praise for boosting the fortunes of the national team during his tenure.

After early exits at previous World Cups, Southgate took England to the last four of the 2018 tournament in Russia before an extra-time defeat against Croatia.

England ultimately finished fourth in the tournament to mark their second best finish at the World Cup – joint with 1990 – since claiming the trophy back in 1966. 

Southgate had previously been made an OBE for his services to football in the 2019 New Year Honours.

His path to the top gong in the New Year Honours List was cleared after a probe into his tax affairs was dropped last year.

MailOnline previously reported that plans to knight him following the 2020 defeat by Italy in the final were shelved as he had been placed on a ‘tax risk list’.

But tax bosses ruled that he did not break rules by investing in a controversial film investment scheme following intensive talks between HMRC and Whitehall mandarins last year.

Southgate has yet to return to management after stepping down as England boss last summer, but has said he is ‘open minded’ about opportunities both in and outside of the game.

Earlier this month, reports in Poland claimed Southgate had applied to become their national coach following the resignation of Michal Probierz.