Next Man Utd boss? Why ex-England manager Gareth Southgate plans to star in a ‘different movie’

Having guided England to two Euros finals and the last four of a World Cup, Southgate was always going to be in demand whenever the day came to leave the most demanding of international coaching posts. He has been linked with domestic outfits across the globe.

Taking a break was always part of the grand plan, while moving into motivational speaking, and no offer has enticed Southgate back into the dugout. He claims to still be in no rush to tread that path, having previously worked in the Premier League with Middlesbrough.

There is no desire on his part to take a job for the sake of it, with Southgate telling The Football Boardroom Podcast: “I’ve got no passion to just go and manage in the Premier League. I did that at 35, I finished 11th, 12th. Who is in those positions now, probably Bournemouth, Brighton?

“So I don’t feel the need to just go and do it to say I’ve managed in the Premier League. I’ve had one of the biggest jobs in world football so I’ve been spoiled. Huge nights, working with outstanding players. No owner interfering.

“The bit that, externally, people are saying is, ‘well, he didn’t win’. So how do you prove that you can win? You’ve got to one of those big clubs.”

Southgate is confident that he could deliver under pressure at one of those so-called “big clubs”, with it his belief that he would have fared better in some of those prominent posts than coaching contemporaries have managed.

He added: “Now we know those big clubs… do I think I could have done the job that some people who have been in those clubs recently have done? Could I do better? I think I could.

“But we’ve talked about the baggage that comes with me as an appointment if you’re an owner. And there’s a reality around (that), I can understand what that noise is. There’s that bit which makes me potentially a complicated appointment for a club.”

There has been talk at various intervals down the years of Manchester United making a play for Southgate. That speculation resurfaced in the wake of Ruben Amorim’s dismissal at Old Trafford.

Teddy Sheringham, a 1999 Treble winner with the Red Devils and a former England star, has said: “If you look at some of the high-profile managers who have been at Manchester United since Sir Alex Ferguson left, a lot of them have come in and unsuccessfully tried to take the club forward in their own way. I know some United fans had reservations over Gareth Southgate due to his style of play, but having looked at what he achieved with England, he could be the man to steady the ship at Old Trafford.

“Manchester United are the pinnacle of English football, and I think Southgate will understand the enormity of the task having been the manager of England for eight years. He’d understand the pressure that would come with the task and he’d be in a better place to take on the mantle of getting United back to where they belong. You could do a lot worse than getting Gareth in to restructure the whole place.”

Southgate is not actively encouraging an approach from Manchester, adding on what the immediate future holds for him: “I don’t want to go and manage a different national team. Club? It’s honestly not what I’m looking to do.

“Now, two years after leaving England, I’m not actively looking for a role in coaching. If that European final was the bit (in coaching) I wouldn’t worry about that. Because there is another 15-20 years of my life ahead of me and I’m excited about a different video, a different movie, a different part of my life.”

There may not be a role for Southgate to fill at Old Trafford this summer as another former Middlesbrough boss, Michael Carrick, has been impressing while filling an interim post. He has overseen a six-match unbeaten run, which includes five victories, and has United back in the hunt for Champions League qualification. The 44-year-old could be appointed on a permanent basis at the end of the season.