So it’s over. You’re leaving us and, although it might not always seem like it, we really are thankful for everything you’ve done.
You put the pride back in the Three Lions. Before , you wrote to us and explained how you tell your players: ‘When you go out there in this shirt, you have the opportunity to produce moments that people will remember forever.’ And they did just that. You did just that.
The in 2018 – winning on penalties, the men’s team reaching the semi-finals for the first time in 28 years. Southgate, you were the one.
At the European Championship in 2021, delayed 12 months by , football did not quite come home but, after the horrors of the pandemic, it did come back and you made it special.
Your team made beating Germany look routine and went one better than 2018 by reaching the final – a first for the Three Lions since 1966!
Along the way you nurtured new heroes and banished old demons. Pickford, Maguire, Saka and Kane.
Perfect penalties and the love train. Refusing to ‘stick to football’ and using your platform because you knew you had ‘a responsibility to the wider community to use my voice’.
You wrote that people ‘remember where you were watching England games. And who you were watching with. And who you were at the time.’ And we did, we do and we will.
Losing to Qatar in France was tough and, if we’re honest, so was watching much of Euro 2024 but you, more than any other men’s manager since Sir Alf Ramsey, made winning a habit and took us to another final, a second in just three years! Beer spilt in frustration and then in ecstasy.
Okay, so we lost but you always said this is about more than football. It’s the street parties, the barbecues, the mass celebrations.
The pride, the memories and the next generation being inspired. This is England.
And that’s your legacy, Gareth. You made us proud to be England fans again, always looking forward to the next adventure rather than watching through our fingers.
So, from all of us, thank you. We appreciate it all.
Yours,
England
