Who are the favourites to be the next England manager after Gareth Southgate?
Gareth Southgate has stepped down as England manager after eight years. A second defeat in the final of the European Championships quite understandably proved too much for a man who has done so much to transform the national team but couldnāt quite get them over the line to end all those countless years of hurt.
Farewell, Gareth, but time waits for no man. Southgate is gone so the question must now be: who replaces him? The FA have appointed Under-21 boss Lee Carsley as interim head coach while they complete their deliberations and settle on a final choice.
Which, according to the latest odds, is one of these ladsā¦
10) Ange Postecoglou
We do find ourselves mischievously intrigued at the prospect of an Australian managing the England football team, and itās certainly possible that Angeball might be just the thing for a balls-out tilt at a major tournament. Certainly should bring an end to the complaints about playing with the handbrake on if nothing else.
9) Mauricio Pochettino
England canāt compete with the USA. We donāt even have a weirdly irritating acronym.
8) Carlo Ancelotti
We raise a quizzical eyebrow. Seems vanishingly unlikely but sorely tempting.
7) Kieran McKenna
Not sure this oneās really a goer for all manner of reasons, but we suppose if Ipswich have a really eye-catching season and Lee Carsley has been interim manager without doing enough to secure the job for himself then itās just about possible to imagine a scenario in which the stars suitably align.
6) Frank Lampard
āI think heās [Lampard] been a bit unlucky in his managerial career in some ways,ā said Gary Lineker of his fellow BBC man Frank Lampard during Euro 2024.
āHe gets it tactically and heās Frank Lampard. I think this is Gareth Southgateās last tournament whatever, whether we win it or not. But I wouldnāt disregard Frank. I think players would respect him immensely. If youāre going to go English. Who else? Eddie Howe?ā
We would cheerfully and entirely disregard Frank. And also yes, if youāre going to go English then probably Eddie Howe, sure.
5) Jurgen Klopp
A textbook choice of armchair fansĀ and there are two compelling reasons why he might be up for it hereĀ but weāre not sure Liverpool fans would ever forgive him for leaving them for England. And it really does not chime with the narrative of the sabbatical. Turned down the USMNT only recently and while it would be negligently irresponsible if the FA suits didnāt sound Klopp out we do rather suspect the conversation would be a short one. Which is undeniably a shame, because Klopp as England manager would, we suspect, be a great deal of fun.
4) Eddie Howe
After 2022/23, having steered Newcastle into the Champions League, it would be almost impossible to see Howe walking out on that for England. But the rather more difficult ā for club and manager ā 2023/24 season really does make it more rather than less likely that Howe does now in fact end up with England.
Itās easy enough to see how people could be won over by the concept of Eddie Howe, England manager; he would appear to sit pretty handily being viewed as enough of a Southgate-like figure for the former managerās supporters to fall in behind while boasting a superior club-level CV and arguably more appealing brand of football.
And the Newcastle job no longer looks quite the guaranteed route to enormous success it did a year or so ago. While the Klopp pipedream has the loudest cheerleaders among the media and ex-pros, the far more feasible Howe would appear to be a cosy second on that particular list.
3) Graham Potter
Plenty of reports suggesting heās been āholding outā for the England job having turned down several approaches to get back into club management.
His reputation is undoubtedly tarnished from the Chelsea unpleasantness, but letās not entirely forget what he started at Brighton.Ā Consistently got them punching above their weight and is a brilliant tactician, while the xG issues that have plagued his teams should be less of an issue with this England side.
Heād be making the move from day-to-day coaching very young, though, although having been out of that particular game for as long as he now has perhaps thatās not the issue it might otherwise have been. Probably still just about in the position where his availability is a blessing rather than something to be held against him.
2) Lee Carsley
Still appears to be in pole position, the Under-21 boss (and thus continuity Southgate candidate in terms of CV if not necessarily style) having been confirmed as interim boss for at least the next two England games in September and most likely those to follow in October and November as well.
The fact Englandās objective in those three upcoming pre-Christmas international breaks is (what should be) the relatively straightforward task of getting themselves back into the top tier of the Nations League, an interim Carsley could well make a pretty compelling case a la Southgate 2016 for a more permanent chance.Ā And with Southgateās time viewed very much as a success by The FA (and quite rightly, to be fair) they are unlikely to be as opposed to taking the same route again as some fans might be.
Worth noting for those actually betting on this that different bookmakers will have different rules about when a caretaker or interim manager is deemed to have āwonā for their purposes if no official upgrade in status is announced, but itās usually something like eight to 10 competitive games ā and thatās obviously a higher bar for an international interim manager to clear than a club one. Itās possible he could keep the seat warm for a whole year before the favourite replaces himā¦
1) Pep Guardiola
Englandās tip-top number one choice for after the Euros, apparently. Fair enough, youād have to say. Heās quite good. Might just decide heās done all that can be done at Manchester City, but will have a desk full of extremely lucrative offers and might even decide on another sabbatical rather than jumping straight into work as and when he does leave the Etihad. Can easily see why England would desperately want to make this happen, harder to see why Pep would.
This appears not to have deterred punters, though, who have seen something in the last couple of days and backed him all the way in from some throwaway double-figure quotes to favourite.
