Former England manager Gareth Southgate would only consider 'big clubs' in Premier League, accepts he comes with 'baggage'

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With Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur still to confirm their full-time managers for next season, former England boss Gareth Southgate said he will only return to English football if he can land a job at one of the Premier League's "big clubs". Having already managed Middlesbrough to mid-table finishes, Southgate repeated that he is not desperate to return to coaching.

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Gareth Southgate said he only wants to return to management in England if he can land a job that will allow him to fight for silverware and shake off his reputation as someone who cannot win trophies.

The only England manager to reach two major tournament finals, Southgate produced England’s best run of results since Sir Alf Ramsey led the side to World Cup glory in 1966.

However, despite the impressive runs to successive European Championship finals, he was unable to end over half a century of hurt.

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Southgate has not worked in football since leaving England shortly after losing the Euro 2024 final to Spain, but has been linked with the Manchester United job vacated by Ruben Amorim.

However, he hinted he thought he "could have done better" than some of the managers hired and fired by big Premier League clubs since he has been out of work.

"I have got no passion to just go and manage in the Premier League," Southgate said on The Football Boardroom Podcast. "I did that at 35, I finished 11th, 12th. Who is in those positions now, probably Bournemouth, Brighton?

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"So I do not feel the need to just go and do it to say I have managed in the Premier League. I've had one of the biggest jobs in world football, so I have been spoilt. Huge nights, working with outstanding players. No owner interfering.

"The bit that, externally, people are saying is, 'well, he did not win'. So how do you prove that you can win? You have got to manage one of those big clubs.

"Now we know those big clubs... do I think I could have done the job that some people who have been in those clubs recently have done? Could I do better? I think I could.

"But we have talked about the baggage that comes with me as an appointment if you are an owner. And there is a reality. I can understand what that noise is. There is that bit which makes me potentially a complicated appointment for a club."

United interim manager Michael Carrick’s impressive run with the Old Trafford side has quietened the rumours linking Southgate with the job.

Tottenham Hotspur are also set to hire a new manager this summer.

Southgate, however, repeated his stance that he is not desperate to get back into management.

"I am not actively looking for a role in coaching," he added. "If that European final was the last bit, I would not worry about that."

Southgate managed Middlesbrough for 151 games between 2006 and 2009, beating Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in just his second game at the helm and guiding Boro to successive mid-table finishes in the Premier League.

However, after several key players left in 2008, Southgate’s Middlesbrough were relegated on the final day of the season and though they made a strong start to life in the Championship, Southgate was dismissed two months into the campaign with his side sitting just a point behind league leaders West Bromwich Albion.

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