Former England manager Gareth Southgate says he does not see himself returning to club management in the Premier League, telling The Amol Rajan Connection podcast: “I don’t see a scenario where I do that.”
The 56-year-old has been out of management since resigning as Three Lions boss after guiding them to the final of Euro 2024, where they lost to Spain. Southgate, who also took England to the Euro 2020 final, has not managed at club level since a three-year spell with Middlesbrough from 2006.
A changed relationship with football
Southgate explained that his enthusiasm for the game faded during his final period in charge of England. “Towards the end of my time with England, I stopped enjoying, at the very least for a period, the wins keep you going,” he said.
“By the end, I didn’t even enjoy the wins for any longer than a couple of minutes. So, I’ve hardly watched football. I went to the FA Cup final to see my team, Crystal Palace, win their first trophy. I’ve not been to a football ground since. So my sort of desire to be involved in football has changed.”
Since leaving the England role, Southgate has worked in the media and earlier this year fronted a BBC documentary in which he travelled across the UK to understand challenges facing young men and boys. He has also been a visiting lecturer at Harvard Business School in Boston.
“I’ve loved the last 18 months of my life,” he added. “I’ve had 37 years where my sense of self depended on did I win or lose on Saturday. And actually I’ve loved having different experiences. I’ve met politicians, I’ve met people in the media industry, I have learned about leadership in all sorts of areas, I’ve travelled around the world learning things. I’ve just enjoyed playing a different film in my life.”
Reaction to Manchester City charges
Southgate also weighed in on last month’s ruling, when Manchester City were found guilty of the majority of charges relating to breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons. An independent commission found that the club arranged “sham contracts” and relied on “sham agreements to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs”. The club have denied any wrongdoing and submitted an appeal on 2 October.
“There’ll be the tribal fans’ response to punish Manchester City as much as we can, relegate them, fine them, do whatever you can,” said Southgate. “I’ve been in football boardrooms, I’ve been in meetings with Uefa, I’ve been in meetings with Fifa, I have been in all these spaces and I know how complicated all of this is.”
He concluded that the outcome serves no one. “My underlying thought is none of this is good for football and there are no winners because if you’re at the Premier League, for a very brief moment you might feel justified that all the flak you’ve had for this case taking so long, this is why it’s taken so long and there’s the verdict, and I’m sure there’s an element of justification in that,” he said. “Then there’s this realisation of how do we deal with all of this because you know the possibility of all the different legal cases that emerge from this, how long this could still take, what’s the right sort of punishment, how do you keep the whole game on track?”