England manager Gareth Southgate has been tasked to win the 2024 European Championships or lose his post as the national team manager.
Gareth Southgate has given England a glimpse of hope since he became the national team manager. He led them to World Cup semi-finals and quarter-finals in 2018 and 2022, respectively, while England reached the Euro 2020 final and finished third in the 2018/19 Uefa Nations League.
With the Three Lions one of the favourites to win EURO 2024, former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan believes it’s now or never for Southgate.
According to him, Southgate must find a way to convert near-misses into genuine success, or pay with his job.
“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,” Jordan said on talkSPORT.
“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.”
It’s been a 58-year wait for the Three Lions since their previous and, to date, only major tournament success, when they beat West Germany 4-2 to win the 1966 World Cup.
