Will Southgate stay or go? Shaw’s take on England manager ahead of World Cup quarter-final with France

• Three Lions ready for quarter-final clash
• Questions asked of coach's future
• Contract due to run until 2024

WHAT HAPPENED? The current Three Lions boss is contracted through to 2024, with that deal intended to include another European Championship campaign. Questions have, however, been asked of whether Southgate will remain at the helm were a quarter-final exit in Qatar to be endured at the hands of France on Saturday – with relegation out of the A group in the Nations League having already been endured this year by a coach that has previously overseen runs to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and final of Euro 2020.

WHAT THEY SAID: Manchester United defender Shaw is eager to see Southgate retained regardless of what happens against France, with the England left-back saying: “Of course we want to keep working with him. The type of success he has brought has not been seen for many years. I understand we haven’t won [anything], and we’re disappointed with that, but we’re going in the right direction and things are really looking up. Of course there’s going to be speculation if we don’t win on Saturday, but we don’t want to speak like that and be negative. We’re confident and we’ll wait and see until after the game.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Shaw went on to say of Southgate, who has taken in 80 games at the helm and boasts more victories at major tournaments than any of his predecessors: “Definitely leading into this tournament, the way things have gone, he hasn’t got the credit he deserves. If you look at our past tournament experiences, the past two tournaments have obviously been the best in years, for a very long time. A few bad performances were not solely down to him, they were down to us as players, and got him some unfair criticism. They shouldn’t have been solely blamed on him. This tournament, we’re top scorers, we still have another gear to go up to, to get better and better. The signs are good and there should be no doubt about him at all.”

IN TWO PHOTOS:

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WHAT NEXT? Amid the questions of Southgate’s future, there have been suggestions that England could look to bring in Mauricio Pochettio or Thomas Tuchel as his successor – while there has also been talk of Steve Holland being promoted into the top job from an assistant role.