Southgate not looking for coaching return despite Man Utd links

Gareth Southgate is not looking for a new coaching role despite links to the permanent position at Manchester United.

Southgate has been without a job for two years, having left England after a second successive European Championship final defeat.

The former Middlesbrough boss also led England to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and was highly regarded for forging a strong link between the team and supporters.

Southgate is confident in his ability to be successful with a major Premier League side, but it is not something he is particularly interested in.

“I don’t want to go and manage a different national team. Club? It’s honestly not what I’m looking to do,” he told The Football Boardroom Podcast.

“Now, two years after leaving England, I’m not actively looking for a role in coaching. If that European final was the last bit, I wouldn’t worry about that.

“Because there is another 15-20 years of my life ahead of me, and I’m excited about a different video, a different movie, a different part of my life.”

2 – England have now reached the final in two of their four major tournaments under Gareth Southgate (also EURO 2020) – they had only done so in one of their previous 23 World Cup/EURO appearances (1966 World Cup) before Southgate’s tenure. Midas. pic.twitter.com/pwz1qyt8mM

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 10, 2024

He added: “I’ve had one of the biggest jobs in world football, so I’ve been spoiled. Huge nights, working with outstanding players. No owner interfering.

“The bit that, externally, people are saying is, ‘Well, he didn’t win.’ So how do you prove that you can win? You go to one of those big clubs.

“Now we know those big clubs… do I think I could have done the job that some people who have been in those clubs recently have done? Could I do better? I think I could.

“But we’ve talked about the baggage that comes with me as an appointment if you’re an owner.

“And there’s a reality around [that], I can understand what that noise is. There’s that bit which makes me potentially a complicated appointment for a club.”