The tactician has dragged himself from the bottom of English football to dine at the top table – and it’s time he got the No. 1 job
So it’s farewell, Gareth Southgate. You inherited a giant mess from Sam Allardyce and Roy Hodgson, and got people to believe in the England team again. You took the Three Lions to two European Championship finals, a World Cup semi-final and changed the culture around the team.
You fought the players’ corner when the government got on their backs over taking the knee and you stood by their side when Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were racially abused after the penalty shootout defeat to Italy. You were like a father figure to many of the squad, and when they did not perform early in Euro 2024, you took bullets for them. Or more specifically, empty beer cups.
And despite having the best record of any England manager at major tournaments, you have had the humility to step down and let someone else have a go. But who should that someone else be? Look no further than Eddie Howe…
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(C)Getty ImagesBest English coach
There is a wide range of candidates who could feasibly succeed Southgate as England boss, but Howe tops the list for a number of reasons. Primarily, he is the most talented and experienced English coach out there.
England have experimented with foreign managers before, but both Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello’s tenures ended in disappointment. That is not to say that an adept coach from outside of England could not do great things with the Three Lions. Just look at Sarina Wiegman’s work with the women’s team.
However, appointing a foreign coach would fly in the face of the work the Football Association have been doing behind the scenes to rebuild English football. Southgate was responsible for a lot of that work when he became head of elite development at the FA, drawing up the ‘England DNA’ dossier alongside Dan Ashworth and Matt Crocker.
It set out how every level of the England team, from the youth sides to the senior men’s and women’s squads, should strive to play, establishing ‘England DNA Coaching Fundamentals’. The development of St George’s Park, the national training centre which houses all levels of the England team, was also a key part of Southgate’s vision. Appointing a foreign coach would seem at odds with that.
Fundamentally, a country with England’s financial might and football heritage should be able to produce a coach who is able to lead the national team. And now Southgate has departed, Howe is the best man for the job.
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GettyTurning Newcastle around
Howe has been a head coach for 15 years, dragging himself from the bottom rungs of English football to the elite. He now dines among the top coaches in the Premier League.
When he was appointed by Newcastle in November 2021, they were 19th in the table and looked destined for relegation, sitting five points from safety. The Magpies had been left to rot by the Mike Ashley ownership, but Howe has turned them back into one of the top forces in the Premier League. He dramatically improved results when he arrived, lifting the team from the bottom three to finish the season in 11th place.
The following campaign he led the Magpies into the Champions League for the first time in 20 years. They also reached the final of the Carabao Cup, their first major final since 1999. Howe might have had heavy backing from the club’s Saudi owners, but the progress he has made has been well ahead of schedule.
Newcastle may have missed out on European football last season, but they were handicapped by one of the worst injury records in the league. They staged a strong finish to the season, winning six of their last 10 games to come seventh, only missing out on the UEFA Conference League due to Manchester United winning the FA Cup.
Howe also had a hugely impressive record with Bournemouth. He first tok over the club where he started and finished his playing career in December 2008, and within 18 months had earned promotion out of League Two. He left six months later to join Burnley, but after an underwhelming spell at Turf Moor, he returned to the Cherries in October 2012 and secured promotion to the second tier that season.
After consolidating their place in the Championship the next year, Howe oversaw the Bournemouth’s first-ever promotion to the Premier League. They remained there for five years despite a meagre budget, finishing a hugely impressive ninth in 2016-17.
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GettyBig-game pedigree
At Bournemouth, Howe developed a knack for pulling off surprise results against the top sides in the league. His most memorable performance was a 3-0 win away to Chelsea when Antonio Conte’s side were the reigning Premier League champions, while his team also staged unlikely victories over Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal.
He has entrenched his reputation for upsetting the big teams while at Newcastle, as his side have won three and drawn two out of seven games against Manchester United. Last season, they knocked Manchester City (as well as United) out of the Carabao Cup, beat Arsenal, and destroyed both Tottenham and Aston Villa, winning 4-0 and 5-1, respectively.
Newcastle also thrashed Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 in the Champions League and were desperately unlucky to lose to the French giants at Parc des Princes, falling victim to a truly woeful handball call which was so bad that UEFA stood down the VAR official who had made it.
In other words, Howe is an expert at pulling off big results in big games, something Southgate largely failed to do with England. In the four major tournaments Southgate oversaw, the only time they beat a genuinely top side was when they overcame Germany 2-0 at Euro 2020. Howe has the potential to get England over the line and finally deliver a major tournament win.
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GettyHandling the pressure
Howe lived a charmed life at Bournemouth, but has had to deal with immense pressure since taking over at Newcastle. And his experience means he is well placed to deal with the unbearable scrutiny of managing England.
The 46-year-old has had to deal with probing questions from the media surrounding Newcastle’s ownership, being pressed on human rights violations in Saud Arabia despite just being a football coach. He has navigated the very unfamiliar and uncomfortable waters well, staying calm and carefully toeing the party line.
He has also successfully managed relations with Newcastle’s supporters, who have never been shy about showing their opposition to managers when results start to slide. Despite not repeating the feats of his first full season, Howe remains immensely popular on Tyneside.
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GettyAvoiding continuity
It has been reported that the FA will consider candidates with experience of English football when they come to pick Southgate’s successor, meaning foreign coaches with Premier League pedigree such as Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Tuchel and Jurgen Klopp will not be ruled out, nor would Northern Irishman Brendan Rodgers.
Klopp seems intent on taking a sabbatical year after ruling himself out of the running for the vacant United States job, while Tuchel’s winning record would likely give him the edge over Pochettino. However, the FA would surely ideally like to appoint an English candidate given the investment they have made in St George’s Park and their commitment to homegrown coaches.
If that is the case, Howe will have two principal rivals: Lee Carsley and Graham Potter. Carsley is the current coach of the England Under-21 side and last year helped them win the European Championship for the first time since 1994, beating Spain in the final.
He has recent experience of working with Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon and Jarrad Branthwaite, and will have all the next emerging youngsters on his radar. Southgate followed the path from the U21 team to the senior side, as did Spain’s victorious coach Luis de la Fuente. Carsley, then, would be a safe appointment for the FA.
England, however, need more than just a safe pair of hands. They need a big personality and a proven tactician who knows how to turn the screw when the moment calls.
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GettyDiscard the Chelsea flops
What about Potter? The fact that the former Brighton and Chelsea boss has been out of work for more than a year and turned down offers from Ajax, Leicester and Lyon suggest he has been waiting to see what happens with Southgate.
He did admirable work at Brighton and is a similarly cerebral manager to Southgate, intellectually curious yet willing to try out new ideas. But he was given the chance to prove himself in a big job recently and failed badly. He was sacked by Chelsea after just six months in charge and reports suggested he did not earn the respect of the players.
Frank Lampard should also be discarded for his miserable second stint at Chelsea, having somehow been given the benefit of the doubt after being sacked by Everton. Howe, by contrast, has spearheaded Newcastle’s revival, and he would not be inheriting a burning building this time.
Instead, he would be blessed with arguably the greatest generation of players the country has ever had. Why not let them work with the best manager the nation has produced in years?
Source goal.com
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