If you think Gareth Southgate is bad – ask Chelsea and Brighton fans about the next guy

I think people do need to remember that Gareth Southgate only got the England job by default.

Perhaps the English footballing public should aim their ire at the ‘football agent’ who went undercover with the Daily Telegraph in a sting operation that saw then England manager Sam Allardyce leave the FA by mutual consent within weeks of succeeding Roy Hodgson.

When we’ve got Tory insiders betting on election dates, Allardyce’s alleged indiscretions now seem to pail into insignificance – yet every action has a reaction and was it a knee jerk one by the FA almost eight years ago that has got us where we are today?

None of us for one minute can categorically say Big Sam would have done a better job than Southgate, but would he have done any worse? The crux he was in the job on merit, not because he was the safe option.

Don’t get me wrong, the statistics show that Gareth Southgate is the most successful manager since the legendary Sir Alf Ramsey, with a World Cup quarter and semi plus a Euro’s final on his CV.

But as we all can see when we got there, whilst it’s a team game and predominantly down to the 11 on the pitch, we were tactically found wanting and the blame for that can only fall at one person’s feet.

Whilst there’s still plenty of wriggle room for some kind of redemption in this tournament, I don’t think any of us need to be Lt Colombo to ascertain that this will be, win or lose, Southgate’s last hurrah as England boss.

Ever the eternal footballing optimist, by the very nature that we are still in the competition, we could win it. But that’s a bit like saying that Rishi Sunak could still be living in Downing Street the second week in July. So who comes next?

Ever since 2016, there has been a huge sea change at the FA. The top of the organisation is now controlled by individuals who whilst don’t necessarily have a ‘football’ background per-say, they apparently have other skills to enable moving the beautiful game well into the 21st century.

Pure spin doctoring? Only time will tell, personally with events at various football clubs elsewhere this summer, I firmly believe they know who will replace Southgate, even as soon as the next six weeks.

And if you thought Mr Southgate frustrates and disappoints us all, as Brighton and Chelsea fans will testify, “You ain’t seen nothing yet!”