HOLT: The REAL reason so many England fans are turning on Southgate...

Gareth Southgate is England’s most successful manager since Sir Alf Ramsey and yet a rising tide of angry voices is screaming for him to be sacked, ostensibly because he lost a meaningless, end-of-season friendly against Hungary — rebranded as a Nations League match — that he was using to explore options for this winter’s World Cup. Really?

Some of those voices yell that getting to the World Cup semi-finals in Russia four years ago and reaching the final of Euro 2020, losing on penalties to Italy, represents under-achievement. Really?

If this were not so arrogant, presumptive, ignorant and lacking in awareness of the fact there is hardly a myriad of great triumphs the England football team have to their name since 1966, it would be side-splittingly funny.

The same voices yell that Southgate is wasting the best crop of players England has had since 1966. I don’t think so. Does nobody remember that Sven Goran Eriksson had a midfield that boasted Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes and David Beckham with Wayne Rooney and Ballon d’Or winner Michael Owen up front?

This is a good England team, bolstered by some brilliant young players, but the idea that it would be weighed down by silverware if only Southgate would take the shackles off is a joke. Southgate is cautious sometimes because he needs to be cautious to protect the ordinariness in the team.

Yes, there is ordinariness. England still do not have a playmaker, which costs the side at the elite level. And if you haven’t noticed, the defence is hardly watertight. It needs protection.

Ask yourself how many of the players at Southgate’s disposal have won the Champions League compared to the riches previous England managers have had.

Of course Southgate is not