{"id":786,"date":"2016-06-30T23:20:43","date_gmt":"2016-06-30T22:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/?p=786"},"modified":"2023-05-31T18:48:13","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T17:48:13","slug":"gareth-southgate-set-interim-job-wenger-england-frame-long-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/2016\/06\/30\/gareth-southgate-set-interim-job-wenger-england-frame-long-term\/","title":{"rendered":"Gareth Southgate set for interim job but Wenger in England frame long-term"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>England team returned to Luton after their defeat at\u00a0European Championship.\u00a0Hodgson tendered his resignation in the wake of the humiliating defeat by Iceland.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><!-- GUARDIAN WATERMARK --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2016\/jun\/28\/england-gareth-southgate-roy-hodgson\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardian.png\" alt=\"Powered by Guardian.co.uk\" width=\"140\" height=\"45\" \/>This article titled &#8220;Gareth Southgate set for interim job but Wenger in England frame long-term&#8221; was written by Dominic Fifield in Chantilly, for The Guardian on Tuesday 28th June 2016 22.25 UTC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Football Association is expected to appoint Gareth Southgate on an interim basis before sounding out the likes of Ars\u00e8ne Wenger and Brendan Rodgers as part of an exhaustive and global search to identify Roy Hodgson\u2019s permanent successor as England manager.<\/p>\n<p>Hodgson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2016\/jun\/27\/roy-hodgson-facing-end-england-manager-iceland-euro-2016\" title=\"\">tendered his resignation<\/a> in the wake of the humiliating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2016\/jun\/27\/england-iceland-euro-2016-match-report\" title=\"\">defeat by Iceland<\/a> on Monday that eliminated England from the European Championship, but he was persuaded to attend one final media briefing at the team\u2019s base here while the squad flew home to Luton. The outgoing manager, the highest-paid coach at Euro 2016 on around \u00a33.5m a year, was clearly uncomfortable and stressed three times, \u201cI don\u2019t really know why I am here,\u201d having delivered a statement after the game in Nice the previous night.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail\">\n<p> <span>Related: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2016\/jun\/28\/england-manager-succession-roy-hodgson\">The England succession: candidates in line to succeed Roy Hodgson<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The 68-year-old felt \u201cvery raw and very fragile\u201d as he apologised to the supporters who had witnessed England\u2019s latest spluttering performance at a major finals, with the rather unconvincing nature of the proceedings exacerbated by the FA\u2019s chief executive Martin Glenn, sitting at Hodgson\u2019s side, twice stating he does not consider himself \u201ca football expert\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Glenn and the FA\u2019s vice-chairman, David Gill, will work with the technical director, Dan Ashworth, to identify a new manager, with Southgate, now in charge of the Under-21s, likely to be in charge when the senior side play their first World Cup qualifier in Slovakia in nine weeks\u2019 time.<\/p>\n<p>Glenn suggested the FA had opted against drawing up succession plans before Euro 2016 \u201cbecause we didn\u2019t want to undermine [Hodgson]\u201d but, in the wake of arguably the most embarrassing result in the national team\u2019s 144-year history, is intent upon appointing \u201cthe best man for the job\u201d. He, Ashworth and Gill will consider foreign candidates but would favour a manager who has experienced life in the Premier League. The FA would be prepared to wait for an ideal candidate to complete a contract elsewhere, with the interim overseeing the qualifiers for Russia 2018 in the meantime.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"element element-embed element--supporting\" data-alt=\"Football Weekly\">   <\/figure>\n<p>That has opened up the intriguing possibility of a pursuit of Wenger, who is entering the final year of his deal at Arsenal and of whom Ashworth recently said: \u201cHas Ars\u00e8ne got a fantastic understanding of the Premier League, of English players, of the English media, of the expectations of England? Absolutely. So would you rule him out? Probably not. He might not want it.\u201d That may well be the case, and the Frenchman\u2019s instinct may be to seek a new long-term deal at the Emirates Stadium. Rodgers spoke with Ashworth \u2013 Glenn insisted the England job was not discussed \u2013 before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2016\/may\/20\/celtic-appoint-brendan-rodgers-manager\" title=\"\">signing a one-year rolling contract at Celtic<\/a> and has plenty of admirers within the FA, with the title-winning Leicester City manager, Claudio Ranieri, also likely to be considered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs I said, it has got to be the best man or woman for the job,\u201d Glenn said. \u201cMore likely a man, but it\u2019s the best person for the job. I don\u2019t think we are ruling out anything. An ideal mix is somebody who has had experience of the English game, ideally at a significant level. That is what you would look for. We clearly need an inspirational manager who can harness all the resources that the English game has got, everything we now have at St George\u2019s Park, to make us more resilient in tournaments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI won\u2019t be drawn [on specific names] but track records are clearly a very important part of any process. If there were the perfect English manager, you would pick them. I am not sure there is but we would take a good look and make a rational assessment. That is the brief: an inspirational manager and management team to get the best out of a squad which has got high potential.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"element element-image\" data-media-id=\"3742a8e49261ab85f919824757ac4f6fd0ea37e1\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.guim.co.uk\/3742a8e49261ab85f919824757ac4f6fd0ea37e1\/0_76_4528_2718\/1000.jpg\" alt=\"Roy Hodgson\" width=\"1000\" height=\"600\" class=\"gu-image\" \/><figcaption> <span class=\"element-image__caption\">Roy Hodgson and the FA chief executive Martin Glenn arrive at a press conference in which Hodgson said: \u2018I don\u2019t really know why I am here.\u2019<\/span> <span class=\"element-image__credit\">Photograph: Dan Mullan\/Getty Images<\/span> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He added that Southgate, a highly respected figure within the FA but relegated with and sacked by Middlesbrough seven years ago and in charge as the Under-21s finished bottom of their group at last summer\u2019s European Championship, would be \u201ca pretty obvious one to pick\u201d in terms of the initial interim. The former England centre-half did oversee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2016\/may\/29\/england-france-toulon-tournament-final-match-report\" title=\"\">victory in the Toulon tournament<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n<p>Asked if the governing body would be prepared to wait for a candidate to run down his contract, Glenn said: \u201cIt is a possibility, of course. If you said: \u2018This person is an absolute shoo-in, can you wait?\u2019 then we are well placed with an interim solution. Or you might get a few interim solutions \u2013 a few managers to come and help. It is such an important decision, we have got to get the right person. To wait a few months \u2013 if that is what we had to do \u2013 would be the right decision. But it\u2019s a hypothetical.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ashworth intends to speak to the outgoing coach Gary Neville and a number of leading figures within the game when canvassing opinion over who should take the role, and will also consult senior players \u2013 Wayne Rooney, Joe Hart and James Milner are the only members of Hodgson\u2019s party with more than 50 caps \u2013 in the current squad. Rooney had earlier issued a statement denying those same senior players had lost faith in Hodgson during Euro 2016.<\/p>\n<p>The England captain had suggested he was \u201cinterested and excited to see who the new manager is\u201d in the aftermath of the 2-1 defeat to Iceland. \u201cHe needs to put his stamp on the team, whoever he is,\u201d said Rooney. \u201cI know one thing: if I was the manager coming in I\u2019d be very excited. It\u2019s difficult to see now, but we do have a good squad. Whoever comes in will have the players to move us on from where we are and take us one step further.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail\">\n<p> <span>Related: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2016\/jun\/28\/england-manager-gareth-southgate-roy-hodgson\">The next England manager: is Gareth Southgate really the answer? | Daniel Taylor<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Hodgson conceded he had been utterly unable to achieve that over four years in charge having overseen only three wins in 11 tournament matches. He defended the progress made, pointing to the number of younger players who have broken into the senior set-up, but made clear his instinct had been to stand behind his resignation statement of the previous evening rather than address his team\u2019s failings for a second time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy statement last night was sufficient,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m no longer England manager, my time has been and gone. But I was told it was important for everybody I appeared. I suppose that\u2019s partly because people are still smarting from our poor performance yesterday. Someone has to stand and take the slings and arrows that come with it. I have tried over four years to do the best job I could do. The results will show it wasn\u2019t good enough because the best job you can do is win a tournament. We haven\u2019t come close to it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a result I expect that myself and the team will be criticised. But I certainly don\u2019t feel that I need to be Uriah Heep-ish about it in any way. I think, personally, the team has got better. I personally think we have made progress. I personally think the team in 2016 is better than the team which reached the quarter-finals in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it\u2019s a bad day for me. I am very raw, very fragile. The last thing on my mind is what England should be doing next. I had my chance. It didn\u2019t work out. Now it\u2019s someone else\u2019s turn. But it\u2019s a fact of life: one particularly bad game has caused a lot go damage to me personally, to the team and to the team going forward. They now have a major bridge to repair. If they\u2019d played better last night, maybe it would not have needed repairing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>guardian.co.uk &#169; Guardian News &amp; Media Limited 2010<\/p>\n<p>Published via the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/open-platform\/news-feed-wordpress-plugin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Guardian plugin page\" rel=\"noopener\">Guardian News Feed<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/extend\/plugins\/the-guardian-news-feed\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Wordress plugin page\" rel=\"noopener\">plugin<\/a> for WordPress.<\/p>\n<p><!-- END GUARDIAN WATERMARK --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2022 Roy Hodgson reluctantly faces media one more time after England exit<br \/>\u2022 Ars\u00e8ne Wenger and Brendan Rodgers among names in frame for manager\u2019s job<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10220698900476085_349663338397715":"","twitter_1370559253_1370559253":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[61,122,114,118,208,19,209,5,123,115,119,207,63,120,116],"class_list":["post-786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-article","tag-dominic-fifield","tag-england","tag-euro-2016","tag-european-championship","tag-football","tag-football-politics","tag-news","tag-news-features","tag-roy-hodgson","tag-sport","tag-the-fa","tag-the-guardian","tag-uk-sport","tag-wayne-rooney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bcpdt.org.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}