I lost all respect for Gareth Southgate after way he handled former Liverpool star - he has to go

Well, it isn’t coming home. Then again, should we really be surprised?

England’s run to the Euro 2024 final was rather more baffling than anything else. Handed a favorable group and the much more desired half of the knockout stages, the Three Lions did their utmost to make life as hard for themselves as they could.

Having limped to the top of Group C, they barely scraped past Slovakia before needing penalties against Switzerland in the quarter-finals. A 2-1 win over the Netherlands in the semi-final was an improvement, but the writing was on the wall before facing Spain, by far the best team in the tournament.

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Questions are now surrounding the future of Gareth Southgate following his second successive defeat in a European final. The England boss wasn’t in the mood to answer questions about that after the defeat in Berlin, but the decision should be clear – it’s time to go.

I have felt some sympathy for Southgate over the years. The criticism that came his way despite leading England to a semi-final, final and quarter-final in his first three tournaments always felt unnecessarily harsh to me – it’s not like England fans had been spoilt in the 52 years prior to that.

Not only that, but he seemed to lead in an admirable manner amid an increasingly volatile world. Whenever his players took a stand, he was there to back them up.

That all changed though last year with his handling of former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson . The midfielder had put his manager in a tricky spot by moving to Saudi Arabia, but the way in which Southgate hit out at supporters for booing Henderson left such a sour taste .

Plenty of supporters had raised very legitimate concerns over Henderson’s move to the Middle East given his previous campaigning for the LGBT community. Whether that was the primary reason for the backlash heard at Wembley is unknown, but Southgate had no right to tell supporters how they should have behaved in that instance.

He has been well within his rights to hit out at fans before, as was the case when Harry Maguire was booed for the sole reason that he was struggling at Manchester United. On this occasion though, he was misguided to say the least.

Since then, what respect I had for Southgate previously has diminished. And watching on as England were deservedly beaten by Spain last night, I struggled to muster any sympathy.

Henderson was long gone by this point, although it was his form that ultimately cost him his place in the Three Lions squad, rather than his questionable morals. With his exclusion though, and the likes of Maguire, Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish missing out as well, it seemed as though Southgate might have turned a corner as a manager, and players wouldn’t be picked just on reputation.

That notion was quickly thrown out of the window as the likes of Harry Kane, Kyle Walker, Phil Foden and Declan Rice held down their places in the starting XI despite underperforming throughout the tournament. Meanwhile, the likes of Ollie Watkins and Cole Palmer were rewarded for their impressive cameos with yet more time on the bench.

Southgate has been praised for his use of substitutions during the knockout stages, but surely the question should have been asked why he consistently found himself in the position where he had to rely on those players to change things for him. Even when his backups were doing the business, he still seemed reluctant to turn to them, making changes well after most fans had called for them.

And don’t even get us started on his treatment of Trent Alexander-Arnold this summer . Like Gary Neville said, it should almost be illegal for a player of his talent to not be in the side , let alone not even be called upon in a final when his side is chasing the game.

Southgate has had a good run as England manager, but for so many reasons, footballing and non-footballing, it’s time to move on.