Sam Allardyce: Gareth Southgate may feel eight years as England boss is enough

Gareth Southgate might conclude he has taken England as far as he can after eight years as manager, according to his immediate predecessor Sam Allardyce.

Despite several lacklustre displays at Euro 2024, Southgate led England to just their third major men’s final appearance and first on foreign soil only to suffer a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Spain on Sunday.

Southgate’s future will now be the subject of intense speculation with his contract due to expire in December but the man himself was giving nothing away in the aftermath in Berlin.

He has had immense success since being parachuted into the role in 2016, following a 67-day reign from Allardyce, who suspects the constant weight of expectation might lead to Southgate walking away.

“The one thing Gareth has to think of is (he’s been manager for) eight years,” Allardyce said on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. “Who was the last England manager to last longer than eight years?

“It’s a long time to soak up the pressure that’s upon you and maybe it’s the time where he thinks that his tenure has been long enough.”

England’s style of play in the last few weeks has led to Southgate facing scathing criticism and they had to come from a goal down in each of the last-16, quarter- and semi-final matches.

“We seemed to not be able to find the right system for the talent pool we had, which is very difficult when you’ve got so much talent,” Allardyce added.

“It was a little disappointing but overall Spain were the better side. The other matches where the opposition weren’t as good as we were, you could maybe criticise a bit more about our attacking play.”

Southgate has overseen back-to-back runs to a European Championship final and led England to the 2018 World Cup semi-final – their