Gareth Southgate says he has no regrets after quitting as England manager (original) (raw)
Former England manager Gareth Southgate has told Sky News he has no regrets after quitting.
Southgate stepped down after England lost the Euro final to Spain 2-1 in July.
The 54-year-old had been in charge of the national side since 2016 and had led his country to the finals of two major tournaments.
Speaking to Sky News, Southgate said he had an "incredible eight-year journey with the team" and that it had been "an absolute privilege" to manage his country.
"I think it was probably the right time for change," he said.
"I don't think you can have regrets. We made decisions with the information we had at the time to try and produce a winning team."
Image: Gareth Southgate with young fans. Pic: PA
Southgate added that he had "given the job everything [he] had".
"We raised expectations and that was important. We needed to put English football back on the map," he said.
Southgate was at the BGC Group's annual charity day in Canary Wharf, to remember the lives lost on the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Responding to recent comments from Gary Lineker about Southgate's squad choices, the former manager said he had "shut [himself] off from everything" since leaving the role.
"There's no point in me talking about the team now," he added.
"It's for me to let other people take over, to give them the space to go and take the team on to the next challenges.
"There's no point in me getting involved in anything like that."
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Southgate would not rule out a return to football management, but insisted he was "not going to rush into anything".
"I've got lots of opportunities, I'm very open-minded to what's next," he said.
"That might be in football, that might be outside of football. I'm just going to take some time, refresh, recharge and go from there.
"I think at the moment people know that I need to get my energy back."