Piers Morgan leads pundits and players calling for Gareth Southgate to stay after England boss sparks quit fears
PIERS MORGAN has led the calls from players and pundits for Gareth Southgate to stay as England boss.
The Three Lions suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to France in the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals at the Al Bayt Stadium last night.
Les Bleus controversially opened the scoring with Aurelien Tchouameni’s long-range stunner and Harry Kane levelled things up from the penalty spot before Olivier Giroud extended his scoring record with 53 goals.
England’s heroic captain had the chance to equalise once more with another spot-kick but he sadly missed the target.
Southgate has a contract until 2024 but his future still appears to remain up for discussion after another World Cup heartbreak for England.
The 52-year-old confirmed there will be talks with the FA once the team flies back from Qatar and a decision will later be made.
But Sun Sport columnist and Talk TV host Morgan was quick to try to persuade Southgate to remain in the job.
He tweeted: “Lots of debate over whether Gareth Southgate should continue as England manager. My criteria is this: could anyone else have done better with this (very good) squad of players?
“I don’t think so, and I like the way his team plays & behaves under him. So, I say: carry on Gareth.”
Manchester United and England legend Gary Neville told ITV: “I would love Gareth to stay on for another two years. I’d love him to stay on beyond that whether it be actually as the coach or whether it be in a role in the FA in the future.
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“England in the last 10 years have won youth tournaments. We’ve won a women’s tournament in the summer. We’ve got to the men’s final in the Euros. We’re playing really well.
“We’ve got a good team of technical players. England is in a pretty good place, let’s be clear about that.
“We’ve been out of tournaments in disgrace in the last 25 years, thinking ‘what the hell is that, what is the future?’. We’ve got a great future and he is a big part of that.”
Fellow United legend and ITV pundit Roy Keane echoed those sentiments, saying: “You’d fully expect Gareth to stay on for the Euros, of course.
“He’ll have an exit plan in his head. Is he still up for it? The players will be making big decisions over the next few months, some of the older players.
“I agree with absolutely everything everyone has said about Gareth, but he’ll have to look at his future and talk to his family.
“He’s done a fantastic job. Does he want to give it a couple more years, hopefully he does.”
Southgate firstly took England to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals.
That was followed by the heartbreaking penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy in the Euro 2020 final last year before this latest gut-wrenching loss against the French in Qatar.