England appoint Gareth Southgate on 4-year deal; Phil Neville favourite to land U21 role

England has appointed Gareth Southgate as the England Manager on a four-year deal, and Phil Neville heads a short list to replace him as the next U21 coach.

There will be no fanfare, no 24-gun salute and no cars will roar around the city high streets with union jacks flying out of the windows as they blare their horns. Gareth Southgate is the new England manager, and the mood seems to be, “So what?”

I am not privy to the short-list of candidates that Football Association (FA), CEO, Martin Glenn, grilled over the past few weeks, but judging by the bookmaker’s odds it was a list Lilliputian in nature.

The bookies rarely get these things wrong – preferring to keep their misdemeanours to Brexit or Donald Trump type matters – and so it was the case when they installed Southgate as the odds-on favourite to take the reins from Sam Allardyce.