FA chief: Gareth Southgate is a strong candidate for the England job regardless of his next two results
Interim England manager Gareth Southgate has been assured that he will remain under serious consideration for the job on a long-term basis regardless of the team’s results against Scotland and Spain next month.
Football Association chief executive Martin Glenn also insists that they will ignore big-name mercenaries in favour of home-grown coaches with a plan to remedy the team’s psychological struggles.
Southgate has taken four points from fixtures against Malta and Slovenia, with a further World Cup qualifier with Scotland and a friendly against Spain to come before the FA chooses Sam Allardyce’s successor.
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“Gareth is a credible candidate,” said Glenn. “He knows the international set-up, has done great work with the under-21s and wants to translate that across to the senior team. Even if he doesn’t have a great next couple of games, he’ll still be a good candidate. You don’t judge a manager on one or two games.”
No mercenaries
The FA has counted the cost of appointing expensive overseas coaches, such as Fabio Capello and Sven-Goran Eriksson, who failed to repeat their club successes with England at major tournaments
Capello earned around £25m but endured a hugely disappointing 2010 World Cup, while Eriksson was on a £4.5m salary when his mixed six-year spell ended in 2006.
“We want someone to do the England job who is there for the long term, not just a mercenary for short-term gain, but to keep building the fundamentals of the senior team,” Glenn added.
“In the past we’ve perhaps gone for foreign managers who were attractive because they might help us to win a tournament but maybe haven’t left the international set-up in a better place.
“When we put our kids up against the best in the world we’re winning. We’re not translating that enough when it comes to the senior team and we think the difference really is psychological preparation – this fear factor when you put the England shirt on – so the manager we hire will be someone who really understands that and has got really detailed plans to address it.”