The England star says fans may regret Gareth Southgate’s departure

England goalkeeper Tom Heaton says fans may always regret their harsh criticism of Gareth Southgate after he left as Three Lions manager.

Southgate announced his resignation as England manager just days after the Euro 2024 final where his side missed out on lifting European silverware by losing to Spain.

The defender spent eight years in charge, reaching the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and back-to-back European Championship finals in 2020 and 2024.

Despite all his success in the driving seat in England, Southgate received constant criticism from fans and pundits, who often called his tactics slow and boring.

However, Manchester United shot-stopper Heaton thinks fans may resent their treatment of Southgate and says the manager has done a ‘fantastic job’ of keeping goals.

“If you think back [England’s] his record, I think he has changed the way he feels,” he said The guard. “We all enjoyed watching the games. We were doing well. We changed the expectations. I think we will come [to look] back to travel type, ‘amazing work’.

“It is rare in football that you find a squad of players who do not play, especially those who are used to playing every week, that everyone there wants to win, the manager wants to win for us, he is a leader who wants to follow him, I think that would be my opinion, he wants to win it for him because of what he has done.

Southgate’s successor has yet to be identified, with Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino all linked with the position.

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