Gareth Southgate has to end England’s 58-year wait for a major trophy if he wishes to keep himself in a job.
That is the view of talkSPORT’s Simon Jordan, who believes the Three Lions boss will need to be replaced if he fails to guide his side to Euro 2024 glory.
England go into the European Championship in Germany as one of the favourites, as they look to go one better than their runners-up position at Euro 2020.
Since Southgate took over in 2016, he has also guided England to semi-final and quarter-final appearances at the 2018 and 2022 World Cup respectively.
Boasting a plethora of some of the world’s finest players at his disposal, there is an expectation England should challenge in their quest to win a first trophy since the World Cup in 1966.
Many feel as though this is the last chance for Southgate to deliver, with ex-Crystal Palace owner Jordan of the same opinion.
Speaking on the White & Jordan show, he said: “If you don’t do it now with Southgate, you’re never going to do it. You’ve got the Southgate admirers and the Southgate detractors.
“Even the most ardent of Southgate admirers, people like Stuart Pearce that would not have a word said against him, accepted 18 months ago that if we don’t win this European Championship, then really and truly, he’s had four tilts at it, that’s the end of the discussion.
“So the question is more qualified, if we don’t do it now in this tournament with Southgate, we’re probably never going to do it with Southgate.
“Yes, we are going to do it [win a major trophy] because we’re developing a new generation of players with more talent, we’re going to lose some players and replace them.
“But if Southgate doesn’t win this tournament, there can be no another spin on the wheel, even if they get to a semi-final and get knocked out by some spawny penalty.
“You have to overcome adversity, you have to be able to find a winning mechanism.”
Jordan also doesn’t believe the 1-0 defeat to Iceland in England’s final warm-up friendly match should have much of an impact of England’s chances of success.
He remarked: “I’m in the camp of progress. Despite the fact I’m critical of certain scenarios and situations, I take the Iceland game in isolation.
“I know that wasn’t great, but this is tournament football now, these boys know they can perform at this level, and now they’re into the tournament, and I think you’ll see it.
“I look at these players, and I think to myself, ‘There’s some top quality players in there, in those defensive positions and there’s no reason why they won’t perform.’
“Okay if [Luke] Shaw gets into the side he won’t have been particularly match-fit, but there’s enough there in the early games to get himself into the tournament.
“I think the offensive line is where we have previously fallen short, I think we know we can defend in the past and we’ve been relatively robust at defensive scenarios.
“It’s about what we do to the opposition that has often concerned me.
“In the Southgate era, we have to say after three tournaments of a semi-final, of a final and a quarter-final, we have to say that the next logical step with the quality of players that we’ve got, is to win a tournament in a tournament, where there really isn’t a standout dominant side that makes you feel, ‘Oh wow.'”
Jordan then stressed that Southgate’s reign in charge of England will also be defined due whether he has enjoyed any success.
He stated: “Gareth Southgate has set up his teams in a certain way and at times, stolen defeat from the jaws of victory.
“And people will look at that and go well, ‘Opportunities have been missed,’ and they’ll give passes and they’ll say that the, ‘Croatian World Cup semi-final was a first outing and he gets the benefit of doubt from that.’
“And then they’ll go on to the Italian Euro champions at Wembley and missing the opportunities there. And it’s an interesting set of answers, how do you define success?
“Because that’s a circular conversation. How do you define success? I define success by winning a bloody tournament, Gareth. That’s how I define success.
“So if you want a definition of success, there’s the definition of it. Because Gareth was really kind of skirting around the argument.
“How do you define success by setting yourself a low standard and managing to achieve it? Previously, that’s what we’ve done.
“So he takes the low standards that have been done previously, the all-time record low of how low we could go by losing to Iceland in 2016 and builds from that.
“By that measurement, yes, he can say success and then he talks about scrutiny. Leave off.”
News Summary:
- ‘Now or never’ – Gareth Southgate must win England Euro 2024 or he has to be replaced
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