by Ben Ayuko
{image by thetimes}
Gareth Southgate already said that it might be his last tournament as England manager. What a story it would have been had he managed to sign off with that ever-elusive trophy for the England National Team. Alas, what was looking to be a fairytale ending has quickly fizzled out into an unceremonious hobble off the stage whilst spectators, in unison, toss rotten eggs and tomatoes at his head (his own people no less).
There was a lot of mixed emotions in the England camp as they progressed through the tournament. At first, it was ruthlessly unaccommodating in the group stage, e.g. “Southgate out!“, “What kind of Football is this?“, “Not my manager“. This evolved through the knockout rounds to a more positive tone in the knock-out rounds to “He should get Knighted if he wins it‘, “Nobody cares about the football“, “It’s Coming Home.” This level of optimistic enthusiasm was rife throughout the fandom up until the final whistle of the final game of the tournament, sending sentiment straight back down to; “Southgate out!“, “What kind of Football is this?”, “Not my manager“.
He has managed to split the English fanbase completely in half. One side thinks that despite not winning anything, he has been the 3 Lion’s most successful coach, while the other thinks he should have been able to win something if he is so good.
Well, as it turns out, he wasn’t going to wait for the higher-ups to ring him up. He decided to go out on his own steam. And who can blame him? It must be a difficult job for one to try to attain the unattainable- year in, year out- all the while receiving a steaming pile of hatred from the people who you are trying to attain it for. It must take a lot of spirit to keep going for so long, falling just short every time, then receiving the barrage of abuse that comes with failure.
Southgate has had a fine run, getting to 2 European Finals and a World Cup semi-final.
And well, after 8 years, now he can rest as he hands over the baton of abuse to yet another poor unfortunate soul.