Criticism made me consider walking away as England coach — Southgate

England’s manager Gareth Southgate (Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP)

Gareth Southgate considered stepping down as England boss because of criticism he faced before the World Cup, saying: “The last thing you want as a manager is that your presence is divisive and inhibits performance.”

England were knocked out of the tournament by France in the quarter-finals, 18 months after losing the Euro 2020 final to Italy on penalties at Wembley.

The team were booed off in June following a 4-0 defeat against Hungary at Molineux in the Nations League – part of a generally poor series of results leading into the winter World Cup.

Explaining for the first time how he reached the decision to stay in his job, he told BBC Sport: “I never want to be in a position where my presence is affecting the team in a negative way.

“I didn’t believe that was the case, but I just wanted a period after the World Cup to reflect and make sure that was still how it felt.”

The 52-year-old said he asked himself: “Is it the right thing to keep taking this project on? I wanted to make sure I’m still fresh and hungry for that challenge.”

Describing his role as “the greatest privilege of my life”, he said the decision to stay was ultimately “not difficult” because of “the quality of performances and the progress that we’re making”.

“The team are still improving. We’re all gaining belief in what we’re doing,” he said.

In the immediate aftermath of his team’s defeat to France six weeks ago, Southgate said he felt “conflicted” about his future, having “found large parts of the last 18 months difficult”.

England went into the World Cup on the back of relegation from their Nations League group and during the Hungary defeat some England fans chanted “you don’t know what you’re