Is Gareth Southgate the right man to lead England U21s?
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Updated 25/06/2015 at 11:49 GMT
In-depth: We study the fall-out from England's dismal exit from the European Championship, and ask if the future of the national game is in the right hands.
Gareth Southgate watched his England Under-21s exit the European Championship after a 3-1 defeat by Italy
Image credit: PA Sport
WHAT HAPPENED?
England and Italy were knocked out of the European Championship as Italy completed a 3-1 win over Gareth Southgate's side. It is the third time at this tournament that England have departed at the group stage. England started brightly, and had chances to take the lead with Harry Kane looking bright. But the night gradually went downhill from there with England 3-0 down after 72 minutes before Nathan Redmond struck in the death throes of the match. They also lost 1-0 to Portugal in their opening match of the finals with the 1-0 win over Sweden rendered immaterial by defeat to the Azzurri.
WHAT WAS SOUTHGATE'S REACTION?
Southgate has a contract with the FA until 2017, and would like to continue in the role. "I'm contracted to stay on, I'd like to stay on. I think we've had some massive success stories in terms of individuals that have come through the programme. We need to expose our players more to this type of environment, where there is intense pressure, where they have to produce. They need more of it at club level and that would help internationally but, collectively and individually, they would have learned a lot from the last 10 days. In general terms, in terms of what they can give to English football, I think there are some good characters that are going to come through this group who will go into the senior team and make that senior team stronger.
We can’t put this group of young players in with everything else that has happened in England’s football history. These are young players and there’s some improvement that needs to happen in terms of their general defending as a group and as individuals. That’s the age they’re at. All teams in this competition have made defensive errors, sometimes they’re punished, sometimes they’re not. We’ve been punished ruthlessly for them."
WILL HE BE ALLOWED TO STAY ON?
Probably, but it is worth asking if Southgate is experienced enough to handle such an important role in youth development? He seems to be the latest member of a long line of coaches in the FA system who have achieved very little in management. Southgate spent three years at Middlesbrough when they were relegated from the Premier League, but you wonder what the qualifications are for such a role regarding youth football? Then again, if you study who is running the England youth teams, nobody stands out as an exceptional candidate.
U21: Gareth Southgate – out of job for four years
U20: Aidy Boothroyd – sacked from League Two Northampton
U19: Sean O’Driscoll – relegated Bristol City
U18: Neil Dewsnip – No managerial experience
U17: John Peacock – No managerial experience
WHAT DID THE EXPERTS MAKE OF IT?
The former QPR and Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp was scathing in his assessment of the England failure. "Half of them play in the Championship, half can't get a game. The centre-half, one of them can't get into Leicester's team. (Carl) Jenkinson was out on loan because he can't get in Arsenal's team. (Young players) don't work hard enough. They're first off the training pitch. They should be out there. Even if they're only doing simple passing or shooting or dribbling. But they don't do it. They walk off, thinking, 'I've got a three or four-year contract, I've made it'."
BBC pundit and former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson lamented the amount of money some players are earning. "Look at Raheem Sterling at Liverpool. He is the perfect example of getting it wrong. He has decided he doesn't want to play for Liverpool. He said it is not about the money. Why would he want to leave Liverpool? Only the season before last they nearly won the league. What is that about? Where is he getting that advice from? The problem for clubs is if you don't pay £25,000-£30,000 a week, or whatever it is, somebody else will pay it. It is very difficult how you can stop it. You are relying on young players to have been brought up properly by their mothers and fathers, to invest in themselves in terms of training, staying behind, practice, practice, practice."
WHAT DID THE MEDIA MAKE OF IT?
The soundtrack of England in recent tournaments continues to be summer-time blues. Roy Hodgson’s team have at least improved since last year’s weak World Cup, and Mark Sampson’s women’s side fly the flag proudly in Canada, but the failure of Gareth Southgate’s Under-21s here casts a dark cloud. The kids are not all right. Henry Winter, Daily Telegraph
It has become a horribly familiar pattern: domination in qualifying, expectation in the build up and elimination at the finals. For the third time in succession England bowed out of the European Under-21 Championships at the group stage after slumping to a hugely-disappointing defeat to Italy in Olomouc. John Ashdown, The Guardian
OUR VIEW
There are not too many more hoary old themes in football than England's failure at a game they invented, but it seems to seep a bit more deeper into the senses when the young come up short. This after all is the lifeblood of the future of the English game.
When you study England's 3-1 defeat, the portents do not look good for future well-being. Southgate missed a penalty against Germany as a player and did a pizza advert after Euro 96 when Frank Skinner and David Baddiel were rampaging through the charts with Three Lions. 30 years of hurt has turned into 49 years of pain for the senior squad, but the younger players remain equally malnourished and look under prepared for taking on slicker sides like Italy, who had yet to win a game before they faced England.
On the face of things, it seems like English football doesn't care enough about the national squad's prosperity. Not with the all-conquering Premier League on its doorstep.
Raheem Sterling was too busy on a water hoverboard in Ibiza and probably munching on a £40m plus move to Manchester City alongside some fast food to be bothered turning out for the U21s. Why Sterling wasn't demanding to appear in this tournament seems bizarre, but he is not the only one. Luke Shaw, Jack Wilshere and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain of Arsenal and Everton’s Ross Barkley were not called up. and would surely have added real zest to the side having accumulated significant experience with England and the senior national side.
Club football remains the priority to the detriment of England teams. If the plan remains preparing an England side capable of going to Qatar to win the World Cup in 2022, prospects look about as inviting as earning a living on one of these wretched construction sites in that part of the world. It is tough to be positive after another dose of failure brought on by what can only be viewed as more self-harming.
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