SOUTHGATE
Gareth

• 1. Club career
• 1.1. Southampton
• 1.2. Crystal Palace
• 1.3. Aston Villa
• 1.4. Middlesbrough
• 2. Other roles

Gareth Southgate is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a defender and midfielder. He has been the manager of the England national team since 2016.

Southgate won the League Cup with both Aston Villa (in 1995–96) and Middlesbrough (in 2003–04) and captained Crystal Palace to win the First Division championship in 1993–94. He also played in the 2000 FA Cup Final for Villa and the 2006 UEFA Cup Final for Middlesbrough. Internationally, Southgate made 57 appearances for the England team between 1995 and 2004. He played every game of England's campaign in the 1996 European Championships, but his penalty miss sent England out in the semi-final. He also featured in both the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 European Championships. His playing career ended in May 2006 at the age of 35, after more than 500 league appearances.

Southgate was manager of Middlesbrough from June 2006 until October 2009. He also managed the England under-21 team from 2013 to 2016, before becoming the England national team manager in 2016, succeeding Sam Allardyce. In his first tournament as England manager, the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Southgate became the third manager (after Alf Ramsey and Bobby Robson) to reach a World Cup semi-final with the England team, which won him the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award. At UEFA Euro 2020, he became the first England manager to reach the final of a European Championship and to reach any major tournament final since 1966; England eventually lost to Italy in a penalty shootout.

Club career

Southampton

Southgate played as a youth for two-and-a-half years for Southampton before being released as a thirteen-year-old.

Crystal Palace

Southgate began his career at Crystal Palace, playing initially at right-back and then in central midfield. He became captain and led the club to the 1993–94 First Division title. After the South London club's relegation from the Premier League, he moved to Aston Villa for a fee of £2.5 million, having made 152 appearances over four seasons.

His nickname at Palace was "Nord", given to him because his precise way of speaking reminded one of the coaches of Denis Norden's vocal delivery.

Aston Villa

At Aston Villa, he was converted into a centre-back and was part of a formidable defence. In his first season, he lifted the League Cup and Aston Villa qualified for the UEFA Cup. Southgate played in every Premier League game during the 1998–99 season. He continued to play for Villa in the 1999–2000 season as Villa reached the FA Cup Final, but handed in a transfer request just before Euro 2000, claiming that "if I am to achieve in my career, it is time to move on."

Middlesbrough

On 11 July 2001, Southgate signed for Middlesbrough for a £6.5 million fee. He joined on a four-year deal and was the first signing by Steve McClaren, whom he knew as an England coach.

In July 2002, after Paul Ince left for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Southgate was appointed the new Middlesbrough captain. On 29 February 2004, he became the first Boro skipper in their 128-year history to lift a trophy, as they defeated Bolton Wanderers in the League Cup final at the Millennium Stadium.

Southgate rejected media rumours that he was set to move to Manchester United following Rio Ferdinand's ban for missing a drug test in January 2004. He later committed his final playing years to Middlesbrough, signing until 2007. His final appearance as a professional player was in the 2006 UEFA Cup Final against Sevilla, which Boro lost 4–0 at the Philips Stadion in Eindhoven.

Other roles

In 2003, Southgate and his close friend Andy Woodman co-wrote Woody & Nord: A Football Friendship. This book describes an enduring friendship forged in the Crystal Palace youth team that has survived Southgate and Woodman's wildly differing fortunes in the professional game. The book won the Sports Book of the Year award for 2004 from the National Sporting Club (now the British Sports Book Awards).

Southgate was also a co-commentator for ITV at the 2006 World Cup, covering group games alongside Clive Tyldesley. Due to commitments of managing Middlesbrough, he attended for only the first two weeks of the four-week tournament. He resumed a role as pundit and co-commentator after he finished his tenure at Middlesbrough in 2010, working on FA Cup and UEFA Champions League matches for ITV as well as acting as a pundit on England games.

In January 2011, Southgate was appointed as the FA's head of elite development, to work with Trevor Brooking. He left the post in July 2012, and ruled himself out of consideration for the role of technical director, for which he had been a leading candidate.