Gareth Southgate as Man United manager is huge and baffling leap of faith
Not for the first time we find ourselves asking this question: are Manchester United actually going to make Gareth Southgate their manager? Gareth Southgate? Gareth? Southgate?
Weâve previously positioned ourselves firmly in the cynical camp that believes the volume of âSouthgate to Unitedâ rumours is often very conveniently â for the media, if not the club â at its loudest around those times when international rather than club football is in the spotlight, and thereâs no denying this latest burst of noise fits the bill.
But at the same time thereâs clearly something in it. Itâs clearly not nothing. Even between the March interlull and seasonâs end there was enough background-level chatter about him being âthe one Ratcliffe wantsâ to realise it couldnât entirely be dismissed as mere tabloid mischief-making and click-chasing.
Weâre not saying Southgate is definitely going to be the next Man United manager, but you canât say with any confidence that he definitely wonât.
And we still really just donât get it.
Whatever happens in Germany this summer, Southgate will go down as a good England manager and it may yet be great England manager.
But heâs also without doubt been a lucky one, both in the generation of players he has been blessed with and the tournament runs that have opened up for him. Major quarter-finals against Sweden and Ukraine and a semi-final against Denmark is undeniably kindly stuff. Thatâs not a criticism, itâs just a fact.
England have benefited from and taken (almost) full advantage of tournaments opening up for them. Thereâs every chance, for what itâs worth, that much the same happens over the next few weeks.
Itâs entirely possible we learn absolutely nothing new about Southgate as a manager this summer: if England win their gentle-looking first-round group they wouldnât have to face another group winner until the semi-final at the earliest. Thatâs probably France, and thatâs probably another tournament exit and thatâs once again a flurry of âFine, but theyâve lost to the first decent team theyâve faced againâ.
But letâs also not pretend just anyone could have done what Southgate has done as England manager. He has without doubt created more of a club atmosphere around the group. Gone are the days of United or Liverpool cliques within the England squad, endlessly suspicious of each other during the uneasy halting of hostilities for international get-togethers.
England players on England duty are now very clearly England players first. There has been a clear and clearly beneficial shift in the culture around Team England on Southgateâs watch, and it would be foolish to pretend that hasnât had a significant impact on their improved tournament results.
It is, though, undoubtedly Southgateâs greatest triumph which is both compliment and curse. He has had good players, entrusted them and backed them, and got some very decent results out the other end. And if youâre trying to build a team around an exciting and talented core of young players coming through as United are, then the fatherly appeal of Southgate does make some sense.
MORE ON MAN UTD AND SOUTHGATE FROM F365:
đ Five reasons Gareth Southgate would *actually* be good for Manchester United
đ Why oh why donât Man Utd fans want âcollegiateâ king of âhusbandryâ Gareth Southgate?
But there really is still very, very little about even his best England teams to suggest he would be any better suited to club management now than he was all those years ago at Middlesbrough. Heâs older and wiser, sure, but the difference between the two jobs is so vast.
International management is both far more complicated and far more simple. Complicated because of the logistics, of players arriving from all over the place and gathering for a relatively short time to work together. And therefore simple because there really is only so much you can do in that time.
The extreme end of this argument is that everything that has made Southgate a good international manager â prioritising vibes and a straightforward tactical plan â actively count against him at club level, where rather more is required in terms of tactical input.
International football remains, by necessity, a game where managers have limited scope to improve and mould players or even explore tactical switches too deeply. Managers largely have to work with what theyâve got and with no active recruitment options available a large part of that really is also down to dumb luck.
Southgate has had plenty of that as England manager. Heâs clearly a gifted man-manager, capable of weaving together a squad and getting them all pulling in the same direction. Itâs a vital and under-rated part of management and one not to be sniffed at all.
But in the day-to-day grind of club management itâs also a far smaller part of the puzzle.
The spotlight on the England manager is obviously huge, but it ebbs and flows. He has still to an extent been able to grow into the role with plenty of time each year spent out of the spotlight. He simply wouldnât get that at United or any other big club and the idea that he might be the best fit for any job of that scale in club football represents a huge leap of faith and monumental gamble.
MORE: Man Utd | Erik Ten Hag | Gareth Southgate
