Sorry Chaps and Chappesses, I am really uninspired!

No need to apologise! Who would you have opted for?

I'm great deal more inspired than I was in the summer when the fat greedy fraud got the job.

They have tried the highly paid foreigners and everything why not give a young English manager a go? He actually won a tournament with the under 21's as well. Give him time without ridiculous expectations.

An uninspiring choice but what is there to lose? We have tried and failed in numerous tournaments with bigger names to let's just give the fella a chance I suppose.


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There was a grinding inevitability about it. Nothing much more to say really.

He doesn't inspire me, as long as he inspires the players, then fair enough. Problem is, I don't think he will, I think they'll just tread water and perform whenever they feel like it. We'll bumble along.

It's gone too far now. We have such a limited pool of players to choose from, the squad know that and their attitude seems to reflect that.

They need a Clough type manager but at the same time player power and an apparent lack of pride are too strong for his methods to work.

That said, good luck to Gareth, not the worst choice and maybe going under the radar could work in our favour.

They said that about Stuart Lancaster (young, inexperienced, uninspiring), and in 4 years he turned a bad-attitude England rugby team around and left Eddie Jones with a squad who with very few additions are now second in the world rankings and have won their last 13 matches including a 3-0 whitewash in Australia.

I worked with a bloke who covered Boro, Newcastle and Sunderland for a national paper. He had a massive amount of time for Southgate. Reckoned you were treated like shit at St James and tolerated at the Stadium of Light while Southgate made you genuinely welcome and did his best to answer questions fully. He said that a number of times he asked a question that was either too difficult to answer properly in front of reporters who only wanted soundbites or involved comment on individual players that might upset them. Southgate ducked the questions but called him over at the end of the conference and explained stuff in detail in private. He reckoned he was the most intelligent and genuine manager he ever met.

Doesn't mean he'll do a great job but it explains why the FA might rate him and it has made me hope that he does well.

That's a really interesting take on Lancaster's reign. He did achieve a lot in terms of changing the teams's culture and giving a new generation of players their chance.
On the other hand, results on the pitch were never that good and failing to get out of the group in a home World Cup was a disaster - chucking that lead away to the bloody Taffs was a real low!

Most England rugby fans would say that Eddie Jones has made a huge difference - the man is in a league of one as a national coach (with Gatland a good second). Japan beating South Africa was an astounding achievement and a fantastic game to watch, and now he has infused the England rugby team with the belief that they are winners - something that Lancaster and his coaches never got close to achieving.

That said, there's no equivalent to Eddie Jones in national football team management - Joachim Low is probably closest - so personally I think Southgate is the best choice for England at the minute and hope he does well. The bar has been set very low by England managers since 1996.

Stuart Lancaster played a boring defensive game and ruled with a rod of iron.

He was awful.

With regards to Southgate my fear is that he too establishment.

He will pick the same set of players that fail time after time.

He will follow a well established path. He will probably name a captain even though there is absolutely no need to.

Its a ridiculous thing england managers do that only guarantees someone a game.

Why would anyone do that?

Hope I am wrong but southgate doesnt seem to have the charisma to make bang average players inspired.

For me, he fits into that 'nice' category. Presentable and not going to make waves he'll tick all the boxes and top brass will be comfortable with it.
I'm not expecting anything to be honest, tranquility will rule and everything will just roll along going nowhere in a rush. Ah well, we've become a nation of played by the rules, lost by the rules also runs and the theme continues.

What a load of codswallop. It was Lancaster who reintroduced back play into the England game and made them the most attacking team in Europe. 55-35 and 7 tries against France anybody?

If he'd ruled with a rod of iron he would never have listened to his sidekicks (Burgess right?) and may well have done better.

What I can't deny is he was lacking in killer instinct. As Mr Father says, for a Lancaster to work you need a Jones to follow behind, and that's going to be the hard deal for the footy team unless Southgate surprises us with a hidden side of his character.

You misspelled Schmidt there (and no I don't mean Helmut).