Former England coach Gareth Southgate has been knighted in the annual New Year’s honors list, honoring his achievements as Three Lions boss.
Southgate was ultimately unable to end England’s 58-year wait for a senior international trophy during his time in charge, which began suddenly in 2016, but has done significantly more than any other manager since the 1966 World Cup triumph.
Former Crystal Palace and Aston Villa defender stepped down after a painful defeat by Spain in the Euro 2024 final, having also tasted defeat three years earlier at Euro 2020.
Southgate has spent more than a decade at the FA in total, initially taking charge of the U-21 set-up in 2013 after several years away from football from his previous job at Middlesbrough.
He came to a higher position by accident when he Sam Allardyce was sacked just one game into his tenure after being embroiled in a corruption scandal, he was initially appointed as interim boss, but was given the role full-time within months.
In Southgate’s first major tournament of 2018, he ended England’s 28-year wait for a World Cup semi-final appearance, falling agonizingly at the penultimate hurdle after taking the lead against Croatia. That run included England’s first away penalty shoot-out victory against Colombia in the last 16, as well as their first triumph by knockout inside 90 minutes since 2006.
Southgate is credited with changing the culture within England line-up, which the cliques crossed especially during the reigns of Sven Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello, changing the relationship between the team, the media and the fans, as well as solving the mental blocks associated with representing England. This element of his influence was specific filmed in the play, ‘Dear England’in which the boss was played by actor Joseph Fiennes.
England could not build on the strides made in 2018 and 2021 when the team traveled to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup, but function over style saw the Three Lions cruise their way to a second successive European Championship final this summer.
Henceforth to be known as Sir Gareth Southgatehe is the fourth former England coach to be knighted after Sir Walter Winterbottom, Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson.
Southgate has not returned to football since leaving his England role in July. He was heavily linked with Manchester United over the summer and autumn, before the appointment of Ruben Amorim at Old Trafford in November, believed to be the result of his long-standing relationship with now former sporting director Dan Ashworth.
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