England legend believes Gareth Southgate deserves credit for laying foundations for Thomas Tuchel to lead Three Lions towards World Cup glory in 2026

Former Liverpool stopper James believes Southgate deserves a lot of credit for getting England to a position where they are competing for the biggest international competitions. He added that the Englishman, and the Football Association, put in place strong "foundations" for Tuchel to be successful in the role, but if the German wins the World Cup "all the talk" will be about him.

He told Prime Casino: "The amount of times I've had these conversations with England, players generally love playing for their country. Ultimately, like club football, you can only determine whether it's good or bad if you win something or in the Premier League if you qualify for the Champions League or something like that. I think the thing with Gareth with many people... It seems quite binary. You either like him or you don't, or you think he's done well or you don't. I don't think there's too many middle ground people I've spoken to.

"The way that opinion has either changed or reinforced is on how Thomas Tuchel does. If Thomas was to go on and be successful, win the World Cup, then all of a sudden Gareth wasn't good enough because we should have won the World Cup before. If Thomas doesn't, then Gareth was great because Thomas couldn't do it. I think that's kind of... Everyone's on pause.

"I think he laid the groundwork, the foundations or the FA as well, to make England competitive and virtue of a couple of moments, which ultimately most sport is decided by, we're talking about an England side that still haven't won anything since ‘66. However, I think there's a belief we as fans expect realistically, rather than just expect because we had good players. As I say, if Thomas, and I like what he's done already in the first couple of games, if Thomas is to be successful, then there won't be too much talk about Gareth, naturally, because all the talk will be about Thomas Tuchel and what he's achieved."

Southgate resigned as England boss last summer, after their Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain, before Tuchel replaced him a few months later. Southgate was England's most successful manager in decades after leading them to two Euros finals and the World Cup semi-finals but Tuchel has been tasked with getting the Three Lions over the line at next year's World Cup.

Tuchel's England are next in action away to Andorra on June 7 in their latest 2026 World Cup qualifier.