Former England manager Gareth Southgate believes it was the “right time for change” after departing the national team following Euro 2024.
Southgate had been in charge of the national side since 2016 and had led his country to the finals of two major tournaments, before stepping down from his role following England’s heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to Spain in the Euro final.
In an interview with Sky News at the Boston Consulting Group’s (BGC) annual charity day in Canary Wharf, Southgate said it was “incredible eight-year journey with the team” and that it had been “an absolute privilege” to manage his country.
“I think it was probably the right time for change,” Southgate said. “I don’t think you can have regrets. We made decisions with the information we had at the time to try and produce a winning team.
“We raised expectations and that was important. We needed to put English football back on the map.
“There’s no point in me talking about the team now. It’s for me to let other people take over, to give them the space to go and take the team on to the next challenges. There’s no point in me getting involved in anything like that.
The 54-year-old also failed to rule out a return to football management, but insisted he was “not going to rush into anything” after an eight years spell which saw him turn England from Euro 2016 embarrassments to a great tournament team just missing the final piece of the puzzle.
“I’ve got lots of opportunities, I’m very open-minded to what’s next. That might be in football, that might be outside of football. I’m just going to take some time, refresh, recharge and go from there. I think at the moment people know that I need to get my energy back.”
