Fantastic news and well overdue.
He was a safe pair of hands when he took over the national team who were at an extreme low after losing to Iceland. He galvanised the squad and did a decent job at the Russian World Cup if not spectacular. He had us winning games against the likes of Sweden and Colombia who weren't outstanding but were teams that would've beat Hodgson or McClaren's Englands. He absolutely deserved a crack at the Euros which was as good as a home tournament but again we saw boring football. He beat Croatia and Germany and to a lesser extent, Denmark but was found wanting tactically in the final against Italy when the game and trophy was there for the taking.
His contradictions were what really set me against him. It was either the Euros or the Qatar World Cup where he openly said he wouldn't play Foden in a central position because he didn't play there for City. Well he absolutely did and this didn't stop him playing Trent Alexander Arnold in a midfield position when he didn't play there for Liverpool.
That's brings me to his obsession with right backs. He named four right backs for the Euros in 2021 and said if he could pick five or six, he would've done.
We took one left back to Germany this summer, who wasn't fit to play until the quarter finals and not fit to start until the final. We started the opening game with three right backs in the starting eleven. After two group games, he declared that Alexander Arnold in midfield was "an experiment that hadn't worked". Experiment in the lead up to a tournament Gareth and realise before we start that it doesn't work. We all suspected it wouldn't before the Serbia game and knew after it that it wasn't.
He said players needed to be picked on form but persisted with Harry Maguire for around two years when he was either awful for United or not picked at all. It got to a point when Scotland's fans were cheering him when he came on at Hampden Park and the press were bullying him. Southgate played a part in it reaching this situation. Maguire wasn't fit for this tournament and so he fell lucky with Guehi. Maybe if he'd tried to find other centre backs when Maguire was being ignored by Erik Ten Hag, we might've had a settled defence going into the tournament this summer. His excuse was that Maguire had never let him down in an England shirt but there was a game at Wembley where it all got on top of him and he was booked and then sent off within half an hour against Denmark in the Nations League. The second yellow card was trying to retrieve his own poor pass.
He openly said that he didn't want to take Jack Grealish in case we were losing a game and the cameras were panning to him sat on the bench. A total lack of balls and self belief.
Declan Rice is called "world class" despite not being able to do the job alone that the likes of Rodri does with his eyes closed. He continued to pick Jordan Henderson when we all knew that the limited but effective player was passed it - even we he semi retired and was playing in the Saudi league. He's actually said this summer that we haven't got a natural replacement for Kalvin Phillips. He said that England haven't had a player like Adam Wharton for 7-8 years but then didn't give him a single minute in the tournament because he wasn't ready but threw Kobie Mainoo into most of the matches after he'd played nine more Premier League matches than Wharton.
He's played Harry Kane for the last two years when it's been clear to see for all and sundry that he hasn't got the legs to play in Southgate's system and Southgate hasn't got the nous or bravery to try the system that would benefit Kane. In the semi final and final, when we needed a goal, he's hooked Kane and put Ollie Watkins on who won us the Holland game and was a better first touch away from equalising against Spain. Watkins plays in a style more suited to England's tactics you see, but Southgate hasn't got the bollocks to drop his captain.
He suggested during the group stage that the players weren't being told to sit back after going in front but were doing it anyway. As a manager, I can't get my head around the fact that he allowed this to happen (if it's true) and didn't drop players who he felt were guilty of it.
He seems to have failed to see that Jordan Pickford - good shot stopper that he is - continually punted the ball forward which meant England surrendering possession time and time again. These weren't mis-placed passes, they were no look smashes as far as he could whack the ball with no clue where the ball would land apart from a distance away from our goal.
In saying that Jude Bellingham provided magical moments, he was basically admitting what we could all see. He had no tactical plan to win games other than hoping England's players would produce moments to see us over the line in games.
After having plastic pint pots thrown at him after the bore draw with Slovenia in Koln, he stated that he wanted the supporters to stay with the team. I don't believe a single English person in Germany this summer wanted to watch the shit that we've seen and all want to be entertained by an exciting young English team. Who spends their money and summer following a team that they don't really want to win?
He had a good run - too long in many peoples' opinions but now it's over. Goodbye and fucking good riddance.