England manager Gareth Southgate has left the position after eight years at the helm. With the best record in big tournaments in the last 50 years, Southgate has left a legacy of a team that can compete with the best in the world but also a team that failed to win any tournament.
In the last eight years, the former defensive midfielder led the Three Lions to a FIFA World Cup quarter-final a semi-final appearance, and two Euros final appearances. Most recently, he took the team to the final of UEFA Euros 2024 as England lost the game and the trophy to Spain.
Following a second runner-up finish at the Euros, the 53-year-old has parted ways with the national team, resigning from his post as the manager.
The question now remains, who will replace Southgate and will become the new England manager? Here are our top three picks.
Top Three Managers To Replace Gareth Southgate
3) Graham Potter
Graham Potter is a known commodity in English football. He has previously shown an ability to create magic out of teams that people don’t expect much from. After first becoming the manager of the Premier League side Brighton in 2019, he kept the team up for two seasons during tumultuous times. Then, in the 2021-22 season, he finished ninth with a team, their highest finish in the league. His successive stint at Chelsea was not as successful.
Potter is lauded for his aggressive and progressive approach to football, which is quite opposite to what Southgate did against a big team and is something that might have held his team back. If we don’t consider his brief time at Chelsea, where he had to manage a billion-dollar disaster, Potter is a great coach and should be quite ahead in the race for the new England manager.
2) Lee Carsley
One of the most common ways to appoint a national team manager after the departure of the previous one is to promote the U-21 coach to the big stage. If that is the case here, it will be a chance for Lee Carsley to step up. Carsley has been managing the England U-21 side, leading the team to a triumph in the 2023 U-21 European Championship in Georgia. With the likes of Cole Palmer and Anthony Gordon on that side, the English defeated their Spanish counterparts in the final of that competition.
Speaking of Spain, the success of national team manager Luis de la Fuente as he won the 2024 Euros is a testament to this system working, as he previously was the manager of the Spain U-21 team. Lee Carsley is also available for the job, as he recently turned down the offer to be Ireland’s national team manager.
Check Out: Top Three Managers To Replace Gareth Southgate
1) Jurgen Klopp
Talk about a long project, and Jurgen Klopp will give you a long project. The German is one of the highest-acclaimed and most lauded managers in modern football. Having first become the Liverpool manager in 2015, he revolutionised what was a massive club in the dumps at the time. He took that team and made it one of the best in the world, winning a UEFA Champions League and their first Premier League title in over three decades.
While having not created the style, he popularised the ‘German Press’ (Gegenpressing) in world football. His tactics, which see the team try to win the ball back immediately, are very different from Southgate’s fall-back defence and can boost England’s attacking output seeing the quality of the players up front.
Klopp retired as the Liverpool coach after nine seasons at the helm. The 57-year-old might now be looking for a job with a lighter schedule, something that the management of national teams provides.
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