Gareth Southgate is doing something he hasn’t done at a World Cup in nearly 20 years: watching from a distance, and from the couch. The former England manager, who stepped down after the Euro 2024 final loss, revealed he turned down lucrative TV punditry offers for this tournament — opting instead to keep his mouth shut and his profile low.
“This is obviously a very different tournament for me this one,” Southgate said in a social media video, where he also sent a good-luck message to the England squad ahead of their Group L opener against Croatia. “I have been at the last seven World Cups as a player, as a broadcaster, as a scout and then as a manager. This time I took a conscious decision not to do the TV.”
The reasoning, according to Southgate, is simple: he doesn’t want to become a distraction. “I didn’t think it would be helpful for me to be talking about the team,” he added. “I don’t want anything to be misconstrued or thrown at them in press conferences. So, best for me to keep out of the way.”
It’s a rare show of restraint from a man who remains one of the most respected figures in English football. And it stands in stark contrast to the usual ex-manager circuit, where former bosses cash in on their name recognition during major tournaments. Southgate is choosing silence over screen time, and that’s a story in itself.
A Legacy of Near-Misses and Respect
Southgate’s tenure with England was defined by progress — two European Championship finals (2021, 2024), a World Cup semifinal in 2018, and a quarterfinal in 2022. He took a team that had become a punchline and turned it into a perennial contender. But he never ended that 60-year trophy drought, and the weight of that failure clearly played into his decision to step back.
Now, Thomas Tuchel is the man in charge, tasked with finishing what Southgate started. And Southgate is confident the squad can get it done. “All the knockout nights they’ve had means they are going to be full of confidence going into the tournament,” he said. “They have overcome so many hurdles to winning, penalty shootouts, semi-finals, we got so close and they are ready to win.”
He stopped short of making a prediction, though. “I am looking forward to watching. I hope everybody has a great one and I will be staying out of the way.”
For a manager who spent eight years as the face of English football, that’s a remarkably quiet exit from the stage. And for a World Cup that’s already full of noise, Southgate’s silence might actually say more than any TV segment ever could.
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