Mark Bullingham provided the meet and greet at England’s media - and then immediately found himself fielding questions about Gareth Southgate’s future.
The Football Association’s chief executive is a really nice guy, very down-to-earth and rightly paid tribute to his staff who have laid on superb facilities for the players at their training base and also in the media centre which is within a castle in Schlossverein Blankenhain.
There is a pool table, Xbox and table football in the media centre and sadly England were losing to Serbia when Bullingham walked in because Simon Peach from the Press Association is much better than me at FIFA.
Let’s hope that is not a bad sign for Sunday and Bullingham quickly found himself addressing more serious issues, most notably Southgate’s future because his contract expires in December and that England news agenda in Germany.
Basically, Bullingham’s hope is that Southgate wins the Euros, decides to stay on as manager and has a crack at the next World Cup. The FA’s preferred succession plan for Gareth Southgate is Gareth Southgate.
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But Bullingham was a little more guarded when addressing the issue this time compared to three years ago when the same questions were being asked and the FA chief executive just laid it on the line and said that Southgate would stay no matter the outcome of the Euros.
“I think the world of Gareth, I think he has done a phenomenal job, I think he has transformed the fortunes of our men’s senior team, and that’s not just off the pitch, which a lot of people talk about, and you can see the culture but also the performances on the pitch,” said Bullingham.
Mark Bullingham (right) had to field questions around the future of England manager Gareth Southgate“I have said before that any organisation really has a succession plan in place for their top employees, and we are no different to that.”
Southgate has been a transformative figure for England but they do need to deliver in this tournament otherwise it feels pretty certain that, after eight years in charge, the manager will probably decide it is time to go.
But often when you are talking to someone, it is not just about the words but also the body language and temperature from the room. It is so obvious the FA want Southgate to stay because the manager has created the whole positive culture around the squad and the camp.
This is a world away from the days of Fabio Capello or even Sven Goran Eriksson when, at various points, England boasted world class players but underperformed in tournaments because the set-up was not good enough.
England training on Thursday at Weimarer Land Team base, Germany. Gareth Southgate
England were dealt a boost on Thursday with John Stones' return from illnessJust imagine if this group had a defence with Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand behind it. What a team that would be.
So, no squad can ever be perfect but this will be my 13th major tournament and England have rarely been in a better place on or off the pitch.
And so much of that has to be down to Southgate. If he goes, do not expect his successor to be able to replicate that. That is the biggest worry about change.
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