Gareth Southgate became England manager by accident - thanks partly to The Telegraph
The extraordinary story of how Southgate became England manager demonstrates that for every masterplan, there needs to be some good fortune
11 July 2021 • 1:46pm
Gareth Southgate replaced Sam Allardyce as England manager
From his place on the touchline at the Stozice Stadium in Ljubljana, Gareth Southgate may have been aware that there was some hostility in the chants from the travelling England away fans in Slovenia, although on this occasion it was not directed at either players, managers or even opposition.
The chant was aimed, instead, at a newspaper – this newspaper. “F--- the Telegraph, f--- the Telegraph, f--- the Telegraph,” sang the England support during that World Cup qualifier in October 2016. Southgate was in charge of just his second match as an emergency interim appointment. A month earlier he had been planning to be somewhere else that day – specifically Walsall, where his England Under-21s were playing Bosnia and Herzegovina at the Banks’s Stadium in a European Championship qualifier. Instead here he was in charge of the senior team – the accidental England manager.