It was considered a safe and largely underwhelming appointment by an association smarting from having their fingers burned by the previous incumbent. The Football Association have been traditionally conservative in choosing who should take responsibility for the fortunes of the national team, dismissing controversial mavericks for decades and opting for figures that that would only make sporting headlines. Gareth Southgate ticked all the boxes and more after the departure of Sam Allardyce after just one match.
But while Southgate appears safe on the outside, he brings a new dimension to England. His relevance to the current squad and his continental experience has already shown signs that he is not afraid to make sweeping changes to succeed. He has dropped captain Wayne Rooney on merit, and while the recent draw against Scotland and defeat to 10-man France will raise some concerns over the direction of Southgate's tenure, there are many reasons to believe that they can be the perfect match.
Unlike Allardyce and Roy Hodgson before him, Southgate is relevant, and his England squad would have grown up knowing him as a Premier League defender playing at the highest level for both club and country. Such respect in a changing room of egotistical youngsters can be a key aspect of management and having recently spent a number of years working with the intermediate teams, and behind the scenes at the Football Association, he has not come into the international setup raw.
As England Under-21 manager, Southgate dealt with individuals now part of the senior squad during their most formative and impressionable years. Southgate was the figure handing out first international honours to a number of players, and it is difficult for players to forget the respect they have for managers that make such a positive impact in the first few years of their professional careers. Southgate still may have to earn the respect of the fans, but he already had a head start on his squad of players.
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Manager of the England Under-21 side between 2013 and 2016, Southgate had the opportunity to work outside the domestic club game, while the different demands of international management enabled him to spend time studying foreign opposition and other associations to understand their philosophies and practices. The game we know today may have begun in England, but England has offered little else in terms of revolutionary change since that time.
One continental aspect that Southgate has quickly acted to implement surrounds the team captaincy. Southgate has stated that he does not intend to have a permanently designated captain and will select his on the field leader prior to each match. Across Europe, few nations put the same emphasis on the importance of the captaincy as England, with the majority handing the captaincy to players making a milestone appearance or other such personal achievement.
In England, the captaincy adds pressure, and the armband has had a detrimental effect on players for decades. While some will thrive on the responsibility and status, others struggle to focus on their own game when faced with such an obvious distraction, and the increased media spotlight only serves to test the character of even the strongest leaders.
Southgate has acted quickly to dismiss its value, and removing the focus from one member of his squad and turning it to the collective unit appears to have been embraced by the players.
Of course, it is possible that Southgate has created this elaborate situation in order to drop the out of form Wayne Rooney from his immediate plans. But Southgate does not appear to be that sort of character, and while he gives a nice guy impression, he has already acted like a man on a mission to change a culture with his focused plan for the future of the national team he used to represent on the biggest stage as a player.
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Results will inevitably dictate Southgate's success with England, but his early intentions and actions show that he has a clear short and long-term plan for the team. He will be the first to admit he is not perfect, and there is already plenty of room for improvement, but it is the way he has started to change the national team mould that makes him the ideal candidate to lead England through to the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia next summer.
A well-educated and progressive coach, Southgate displays the professionalism so desperately courted by his employers, but also boasts a modern attitude to coaching and managing his players both as part of a team and individually. Since the late Brian Clough was touted for the England job many years ago, the press and public have called on the FA to appoint a dynamic figure, and their reward was the ill-fated appointment of Sam Allardyce who remained in post for just 67 days.
Gareth Southgate still has a lot of work to do with England, but his plan is clear, and there are no players that have the status to stand in his way of achieving success in a position that has been the culmination of spending the last decade working in management. Few understood his potential when the safe appointment was made, but with each passing press conference, interview and match it becomes more and more clear that this is a man determined to bring the best of his side, but by doing it his way.
There will be issues for Southgate to deal with as he makes big decisions, but having handled Wayne Rooney without the press and public turning against him already shows that his ideas are being bought into. England have been crying out for a forward-thinking and dynamic manager for a number of years, and while the initial appearances may have been deceptive, they may have just found the perfect man for the job. England need to keep up with the rest of the international world, and they now appear to be on the right road to do just that.
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