Gareth Southgate decides to continue his position in England despite his struggles in the World Cup | Gareth Southgate

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Gareth Southgate has decided to continue managing the England national team after contemplating his future in the wake of the World Cup quarter-final defeat by France.

Southgate said he would take time to assess whether he had the energy to move on and hold talks with the Football Association, who want him to honor a contract that runs until December 2024.

He feels the atmosphere is very different from the negativity that followed defeat in the Euro 2020 final and the recent Nations League campaign that ended in relegation. He greatly appreciated the support of the Chief Executive of the FA, Mark Bullingham, and other members of the hierarchy, while retaining the strong support of his team.

A feature of the World Cup campaign was the almost constant endorsement of Southgate from within the dressing room. After losing to France, captain Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Harry Maguire said they wanted Southgate to continue.

Southgate led England to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and secured penalties to win the Euros. Southgate went to Qatar targeting their first victory in the tournament since 1966 and said after the team’s exit: “The energy he takes through these tournaments is enormous. I want to make the right decision, whenever that is, for the team, for England, for the Football Association.”

Southgate said in June he would not get over his welcome and said after the defeat to France that he was “ambivalent” about whether to continue given the various dips in the past 18 months.

Nadir came with June’s 4-0 home defeat to Hungary at Wolverhampton, which prompted an angry reaction towards Southgate from the fans. There is still an element of the fan base that would like Southgate gone and Molyneux’s response was cited when he said after the France match: “I’ve found large parts of the last 18 months difficult.”

When Southgate extended his contract in November last year, he spoke of the depth of the playing talent at his disposal, how he had “done a lot of work culturally” to turn them into contenders and his desire to bring it to fruition. “Stepping away in a moment we still thought the next few years could be very exciting… It was hard to live with,” he said.

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After a week of soul-searching, he returned to the wisdom of these words.

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