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FAO: Gareth Southgate


David

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Hi Gareth,

You probably won’t see this or have seen my previous posts on you since the FA appointed you as England manager.

I owe you an apology, the thing is, I thought the FA had once again showed how utterly useless they are by appointing a manager that had previously achieved absolutely nothing in the game as manager having been sacked from his one and only job following a defeat to Derby almost 9 years ago.

You was given the job of managing the kids, but even Stuart Pearce did alright in that job, need I say more?

This was the top job. England. The dream job that all English managers would love to take on, representing their country and they appointed you. Gareth Southgate. The guy with the nose that couldn’t take a penalty.

What made it worse and which is no fault of your own, you followed in the footsteps of a real turnip of an appointment in Sam Allardyce. Again, need I say more?

My interest in the national team started to fade, what with tedious friendlies v countries in Eastern Europe that broke up the domestic calendar. 2 weeks off to watch us stroll round the pitch in Belgrade, yawn!

What I didn’t appreciate at the time was these were not nothing games, they were building blocks, allowing you to build the team we see today. 

Now let’s be honest, there is still a lot of work to do, but you do deserve not only an apology but credit for the team that you are assembling.

Gone are the old guard, Hart, Rooney, Cahill and we now have a team of young players that can only get better over the years and regardless of what happens on Saturday and beyond in this World Cup, the national team is on the right path and that is thanks to you. I’m sorry.

David.

P.S Good luck on Saturday!

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1 minute ago, David said:

Hi Gareth,

You probably won’t see this or have seen my previous posts on you since the FA appointed you as England manager.

I owe you an apology, the thing is, I thought the FA had once again showed how utterly useless they are by appointing a manager that had previously achieved absolutely nothing in the game as manager having been sacked from his one and only job following a defeat to Derby almost 9 years ago.

You was given the job of managing the kids, but even Stuart Pearce did alright in that job, need I say more?

This was the top job. England. The dream job that all English managers would love to take on, representing their country and they appointed you. Gareth Southgate. The guy with the nose that couldn’t take a penalty.

What made it worse and which is no fault of your own, you followed in the footsteps of a real turnip of an appointment in Sam Allardyce. Again, need I say more?

My interest in the national team started to fade, what with tedious friendlies v countries in Eastern Europe that broke up the domestic calendar. 2 weeks off to watch us stroll round the pitch in Belgrade, yawn!

What I didn’t appreciate at the time was these were not nothing games, they were building blocks, allowing you to build the team we see today. 

Now let’s be honest, there is still a lot of work to do, but you do deserve not only an apology but credit for the team that you are assembling.

Gone are the old guard, Hart, Rooney, Cahill and we now have a team of young players that can only get better over the years and regardless of what happens on Saturday and beyond in this World Cup, the national team is on the right path and that is thanks to you. I’m sorry.

David.

P.S Good luck on Saturday!

Middlesbrough beat us 2-0!

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4 minutes ago, David said:

Gone are the old guard, Hart, Rooney, Cahill and we now have a team of young players that can only get better over the years

That should have been done years ago, I and several others, knew that GS would go through the old guard and move them along.  I expected nothing from this world cup, my thoughts and hopes where on the next (wherever that is as I don;'t think it will be Qatar). 

Brian Clough achieved nothing as a player, he turned out alright.

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Just now, McRamFan said:

Brian Clough achieved nothing as a player, he turned out alright.

Southgate did as a player. He hadn’t as a manager. One job, wasn’t great, got the boot and then 4 years later gets the kids gig before being appointed top dog.

In my defence I wasn’t the only person to be utterly gobsmacked by the FA’s appointment at the time. Was a real double whammy with Allardyce prior. 

Guarentee if he was still in charge Lampard wouldn’t have been a pundit he would have been on the pitch with Gerrard, Hart and Rooney

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Southgate is an absolute class act. To think that we could have gone into this tournament with Big Sam in charge......<shudder>

Given the job required, to transition a number of the younger players from the under age teams into the senior squad, with Southgate's experience at those levels, it should have been a no-brainer I guess. Difficult to fathom that he was so unfashionable, and unpopular choice now.

The big thing for me is that the whole England set up now looks to be much better structured and geared towards moving players through the ranks into the first team, whereas before, you had all the stuff going on with the under teams, and then they never really had much hope of breaking into the senior squad which was dominated by the 'old guard'. It's a change that was needed, and thankfully has now been made, even if it was mostly out of necessity. Looking at the successes at the under levels, we should look to have a lot more talent coming through in the next few years - providing they can find game and development time at their respective clubs!

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3 minutes ago, David said:

Maybe appointing within isn’t such a bad idea, having worked with the players at U21 level and following them into the senior te.....wait, Aidy Boothroyd?....forget that!

Aidy Boothroyd was there last night with Gareth Southgate.

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I also must admit to having similarialy negative thoughts about Southgate, just smacked of a total lack of ambition to me. However, he has quite clearly demonstrated that, on the international stage at least, he is a far better manager than I give him credit for. Think myself it’s his calm persona that really helps him out, it’s transmits confidence to the players which we can see in the way we pass out from the back. There’s still things that can be improved of course, but Southgate has my backing as it stands, sorry I doubted you Gareth!

It does help having harry kane mind, who imo will go on to be England’s greatest ever player.

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4 minutes ago, Alpha said:

What about a thread for Sir Harry Kane. 

Messi or Ronaldo? Ronaldo or Messi? The answer is Harry Kane! 

His composure could win England this thing

He should be given one purely for netting his first penalty last night - coolness personified.  I would have gone round decking all the Colombians!  Their coach and Falcao have since come out and said we were the ones cheating and recieving bias from the referee as well.  The mind boggles.

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2 hours ago, David said:

Took us into the play offs, 45 minutes from Wembley, seen worse!

And left us with an ageing squad tailored to a certain style of play whilst jumping ship, I’m not sure I have seen a lot worse....however an argument for another day.

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Got to admit, I really didn't give a toss about the team and this World Cup before it started, then the morning of the Tunisia game, I decided to put on a footy tunes playlist via Apple Music.  By the time Three Lions 98 had finished I was pretty amped, by the time the John Barnes rap had kicked in during World In Motion I was convinced this is out year!!!

The biggest thing for me with Southgate is that he's not bowed to the big names and has picked his squads on form.  As much as it's pained me to see Jake Livermore getting caps, it does give every English player in the top flight an incentive.  Under previous managers the likes of Lingard, Trippier & Maguire wouldn't have gotten a sniff.  Would still have taken Wilshire though ?

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