So, the question for Mark Bullingham and John McDermott now is: how serious are you really about England winning something?
The Football Association’s chief executive and technical director survived happily under the radar while Gareth Southgate shouldered the weight of a nation’s expectation. But now they face their biggest call for more than a generation.
The simple route – the easy one that is the path of least resistance – is to go for another culture guy, a continuity candidate. Graham Potter is unemployed, he’s pretty good, can easily explain away the Chelsea misstep and will not rock the boat.
Or how about Frank Lampard, who has influential supporters and the emotional intelligence to get this all-star squad on side?
Either would keep things ticking along nicely, plot a path to North America and – just as Southgate did – assemble a coherent plan that gives us a punchers chance in 2026.
Or they could put an interim boss in charge and kick the can down the road. Lee Carsley is with the Under-21s, won silverware last summer and is probably aided by the success of Spain’s Luis de la Fuente, whose minimalist management triumphed after he made a similar jump.
The problem is England didn’t look like a team in Berlin who were taking baby steps to glory, did they? A month of anguish in Germany – that tortured route to the final was punctuated by moments of magic that contrasted with the incoherence of much of their play – made it abundantly clear that the national team is in need of something much more radical.
That is not doing a disservice to Southgate’s body of work, which will be judged kindly by history. The departing manager has done more than anyone to calm the storm around the national team, nurturing the grassroots of the national game with so many unseen, unheralded moments that have contributed to the progress on his watch.
But believing that is enough, that a positive culture will enable England to bridge the gap to winners, would be the worst possible lesson to take from Euro 2024.
Instead what England are crying out for is something revolutionary, a manager whose approach to adversity is more than just tweaks and earlier substitutions. A boss not afraid – or incapable – of a radical tactical rethink. In short they need someone capable of marrying charisma with a system able to loosen the shackles on our team of attacking stars.
It is time to aim high, for the FA to cast off the shackles of cosiness and try to do something big. The search for Southgate’s successor needs to alight at one of two names: Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp.
Granted, the first name is unfathomably ambitious. Guardiola has one of the most high-profile, lucrative jobs in club football and his ambition feels undimmed. Manchester City’s FA Cup defeat will have cut deep for the Catalan.
But equally, City face a season of reckoning off the field. The 115 charges loom large. Guardiola has been steadfast in support of his Abu Dhabi paymasters but will recognise, privately, there is potential for disruption. His City contract expires next year and he is yet to sit down for talks over an extension.
It is an uncertainty that the FA – if it wanted to do something to shake up the national team forever – could work into a sales pitch to a man who will one day want to test himself at a World Cup or Euros.
If not him – and there is a reason he is 28-1 according to even the most generous bookmakers – then an approach to Klopp feels essential.
The former Liverpool manager is on a sabbatical after his emotional departure from Anfield. He sensed he was approaching the red zone and acted before it became a problem.
But international football does not come with the same day-to-day demands. There is a structure below the manager that means it is effectively a part-time job and 2025 is a non-tournament year before a two-year cycle that begins with a World Cup and ends with a home Euros.
Would it matter that he is German? The Premier League is so cosmopolitan these days that it shouldn’t. England shattered that glass ceiling with the appointment of Sven-Goran Eriksson and Sarina Wiegman delivered for the Lionesses. We are not that small-minded anymore.
England are closer to winning something than ever but cannot fall into the trap of complacency. It will take an elite coach to take those final steps.
