Gareth Southgate's England: a bittersweet swan song

"Surely after almost six decades, it had to be time for a new script?" England fans certainly dared to dream before Sunday's Euros final, said Robert Hardman in the Daily Mail .

So many of them had decided to travel last-minute to Germany in the hope of breathing "the air of victory", the last tickets on packed-out flights had sold for up to £950, and Berlin's air space was unable to cope with the traffic: German media reported that two hastily chartered Ethiopian Airlines flights had ended up landing in Leipzig, 120 miles away.

The German capital itself was "overrun" with England supporters. And though many of them watched the game in the mile-long "fanzone" by the Brandenburg Gate, a surprising number had obtained tickets to the final, for which touts were charging as much as £5,000. England's official ticket allocation was 10,295. Yet inside Albert Speer's austere 74,475-seater Olympiastadion, it was a sea of red and white flags.

England 'distraught' at defeat

But football didn't come home, not to England at least. With their 2-1 win, "La Roja" proved that football's home is Spain , "the dominant football culture of the age", said Barney Ronay in The Guardian . At the final whistle, England were "distraught". When the bruises heal, this young team will be proud to have fought through "seven high-drama games" to reach the first overseas final in the history of the men's national side.

But in truth, Gareth Southgate's players had not met on that journey a world-class rival like Spain – and against that "supremely coherent and talented team", they struggled to find their rhythm. Early on, Spain dominated the ball, and in the second half, it took just 70 seconds for their electrifying wingers – Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams – to get it into the net.

Meanwhile, Harry Kane in attack "offered all the mobility, touch and spring of a rain-sodden hay bale". After 60 minutes, Southgate finally took him off, then sent on Cole Palmer, who scored a "sublime equaliser" moments later. The England fans erupted in joy. But it wasn't enough. Spain also brought on a back-up striker, and in the 86th minute, Mikel Oyarzabal scored the winning goal.

A legacy for the history books

For Kane, England's captain, who was "clearly short of fitness", the "feeling of loss is unfathomable", said Oliver Brown in The Daily Telegraph . England's greatest goal scorer by volume has now overseen two "last-gasp" losses in a Euros final in a row. As for Southgate, this match turned out to represent his last as manager. The man who was vilified after his missed penalty sent England out of the Euros in the semi-final in 1996 resigned this week, having fallen short of achieving arguably "the grandest act" of sporting redemption in history.

The tournament had felt like Southgate's last, said Martin Samuel in The Times . On Sunday, he did not look as if he'd now be gearing up for a World Cup campaign . This decent man had endured too much. Before Jude Bellingham 's dramatic bicycle kick delivered that crucial 95th-minute equaliser against Slovakia, his name was booed by fans, he was pelted with cups, and he was "disparaged by former players he saw as allies". Those things hurt. As he said, "We all want to be loved." So he is right to move on for his own sake; but also, for England's. In eight years, he has taken the team a long way.

Now it is time for someone else to have a go at scaling the final peak; another chef may have the ingredient he lacked to turn England's great players into a world-beating side. Still, "history will treat him kindly", as the manager who changed the culture, and who made watching England, and playing for it, enjoyable again.

A 'more tolerant and understanding' England

In 2016, England had not won a tournament knock-out game in a decade, said Jonathan Northcroft in The Times . Things were so bad, the FA told Southgate that he didn't even need to qualify for the World Cup in 2018 to keep the job.

Painfully aware of the intolerable burden of expectation on England players, Southgate innovated: he brought in psychologists to help the squad share their fears, and introduced a buddy system, so that no player need walk back alone from a missed penalty. His methods worked, said Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian : from then on, England qualified for every major tournament, and reached at least the quarter-final in all of them.

But vital to his success was also the way he backed his side. When, in 2021, the then home secretary Priti Patel said fans could boo England players who took the knee, he fought back with his famous "Dear England" letter , in which he wrote that "our lads" were joining in efforts to create a "more tolerant and understanding society".

The youthful team he built embodied "the best of this country", and was one we could all rally behind, said the Daily Mirror . "Modest in victory, gracious in defeat", they were "tenacious and fearless". And they were a real team: "every individual effort was celebrated collectively". Southgate's England may not have lifted trophies, but they raised our spirits. He can look back with pride.