England's players are desperate for Gareth Southgate to stay on after the World Cup.
Three Lions boss Southgate has another two years to run on his contract but there has been mounting uncertainty about his long term future. Southgate has admitted himself that he would not stay on unless he was wanted on the back of England’s disappointing Nations League campaign last summer.
England fans even chanted for him to be sacked when England lost to Hungary at Molineux but Southgate has enjoyed another hugely impressive tournament and the mood has changed again.
The Football Association are desperate for Southgate to stay on and lead England into the Euros in 2024 but are aware that the manager does have ambitions to work at club level again after six years in charge of the national team.
When asked whether the players want Southgate to stay, England defender Kieran Trippier said: “Of course. Gareth has a contract for two more years. As Gareth is focused on this World Cup, as we are. We all love Gareth. Gareth is a fantastic manager, I’m sure Gareth and certainly we are focused on France. We are 100 per cent behind Gareth, 100 per cent.
“Gareth is a quality manager, I have always said it. if you look at the depth, everyone knows the roles if they are playing, if they are not playing, if they have to enter the pitch, everybody will be ready, that shows the quality we’ve got throughout the squad to come on and make an impact.
“Everyone will be ready. It shows sign of a good manager to do that. Even in difficult moments, Gareth does what is best for the team. It shows the sign of a good manager when he make a switch. Everyone is relaxed, so is Gareth.
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Richard Sellers/Getty Images)“Everyone’s relaxed. Especially this tournament, everyone’s been brilliant. Got a great atmosphere, before games everyone’s just focused on the game.”
There is no obvious choice as successor to Southgate even if the likes of Mauricio Pochettino and Thomas Tuchel have made no secret they fancy it. But England are keen for him to stay - no matter the outcome on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Southgate has warned his players to keep their discipline and not blow their World Cup chances with a red card.
England defender Trippier revealed that Southgate spoke to the players before the tournament to have a crackdown on getting “silly yellow cards.”
Incredibly, England have yet to pick up a single booking during their first four games and there has been a clear warning for the players not to lose their heads in the heat of the battle against France. England were knocked out of the 1998 World Cup after David Beckham was sent off while the same happened to Wayne Rooney when he saw red in the quarter final against Portugal in 2006.
The yellow cards are wiped out after the quarter final stage and England boss Southgate believes they must keep their discipline if they are to beat the world champions on Saturday. Trippier said: “We've seen over the years especially since Russia where if you pick up silly yellow cards, if you get two you miss a game. You've seen in this tournament people pick up yellows.
“I feel like us as a team are a really disciplined team and we have spoken about not wanting to miss a game, picking up stupid yellows for throwing the ball away or stuff like that. Obviously you might need to take a tactical foul and you can't help that.
“But it's always important you keep 11 men on the pitch, it's always important you don't give silly yellow cards away and have important players missing massive games. I feel like we are a disciplined team, strong characters in this team and I don't think we've picked up a yellow.
“As the games go on and you go into the round of 16, if you'd already picked up a yellow card against, say, Wales you could be missing the quarter-final. So yeah, we have spoken about it a little bit more as the tournament's gone on but I think we all know as players that we don't want to miss a game over a silly booking.
“I think since Russia we've come so far as a team and as individuals. It's totally different to back then. Every single one of us, if we're playing or not, gives everything for the shirt and we're all ready when called upon. That's there for everyone to see.
“We're a disciplined team, experienced, even though we're such a young team. You can see the high level the boys are playing at. They've got great maturity and hopefully that can take us far.”