Former England manager Gareth Southgate has revealed that he is in no rush to return to football management after stepping down as Three Lions boss following the Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain.
Southgate spent eight years in charge of the England national team, most notably leading them to the semi-final of the World Cup in 2018, the Euro 2021 final which they lost against Italy and then their most recent heartbreak in Germany.
The 54-year-old has been constantly linked with a return to the touchline, with several Premier League clubs touted as potential destinations. However, he maintained that there was no rush to make a comeback after leaving “one of the biggest jobs.”
“The fact [England] is one of the biggest jobs, I think, has meant I’ve wanted to give myself more time to talk to lots of fascinating people who have been in big jobs and find out what they did after that,” Southgate explained on BBC’s Desert Island Discs.
“I don’t want to betray their confidences but people have been very generous with sharing and talking about those things, and all of them have said, ‘Don’t rush’.
“I’ve been 37 years a player and coach, and I’m not against the next period of my life being totally different. When you’ve had one of the biggest jobs, how do you follow that up?”
Southgate also opened up on his England exit, revealing that he listened to Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ to help him cope with his decision to step down as manager of the Three Lions.
“I kept playing it towards the end of the last Euros, because I knew I was going to be leaving,” Southgate said.
“I’d made my mind up that it was time for change on all sides and there are so many of the words within it that even if I hear it today that it relates to my relationship with England and their relationship with me, and how I feel about it all really.
“Like how they’ve got to move on and you wish them the best and there are regrets, and there were actually memories to be made. There are so many lines in it that actually really resonated with me.”
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