Gareth Southgate Quotes, a complete collection

Gareth Southgate is an English former professional footballer who is currently the manager of England national team.

was regarded as one of the best defenders in England during his playing days and as a manager, he has guided the Three Lions to the 2018 World fourth place and most recently the Euro 2020 final, which they lost to Italy on penalties.

Southgate spent the majority of his playing career at Crystal Palace, Middlesborough and Aston Villa. He won some major collective and individual awards including two Football League Cups. The highlight of his club career was reaching the final of the UEFA Cup in the 2004-05 season, where they finished as the runner-up. Southgate was also a key defender for the England team. He reached the semi-final of Euro 96, but famously missed his decisive penalty against Germany.

Southgate became a manager after his retirement from football. In 2016 he was appointed as the New England Manager. Under his guidance England has had three successful international campaigns at the 2018 World Cup (Fourth place), the Europa League 2019 (third place) and the 2020 European Championship (Runner-up). In the following article we present you with a complete collection of

Gareth Southgate quotes

.

Best Collection of Gareth Southgate quotes

We present football fans with the Best collection of Gareth Southgate quotes which includes his comments about his personality and career as well as his comments on other football stars.

Gareth Southgate quotes about his personal life

Gareth Southgate was born in September 1970 at Watford, England. His parents were both football fans. He was a

fan during his childhood. Southgate has been in a long-time relationship with his current wife, Alison Bird. The two married in 1997 and have two children. It is certainly interesting to know more about Gareth Southgate quotes on his own childhood, personality and private life.

On his childhood:

I started kicking a ball with my dad and my grandad, and my one aim was to play for England at Wembley. I fulfilled that dream.

When I think back to what my dreams were as a kid, the only one I had was to play for England.

On his wife and kids

The wedding's still on, she's not kicked me out over this. (On his marriage plans after Euro 96)

You have to try to find a balance... my focus gets drawn towards making this team as successful as we can, to be the best team in the world, but I'm also a dad and a husband.

My kids don't think, for one minute, about where people are born, what language they speak, what color they are. There's an innocence about young people that is only influenced by older people.

I nearly missed the births of both of my children, and both were around international weeks.

On his personality, Believes and objectives

When something goes wrong in your life it doesn't finish you and you should become braver, knowing that you've got to go for things in life and don't regret that you didn't try to be as good as you might be.

I've never been good at gambling, drinking, fighting, tantrums, celebrity.

If we don't allow players to express themselves we'll never progress.

If you are not constantly improving and learning, then you are going to be stuck and not progress.

We always have to believe in what is possible in life and not be hindered by history or expectations.

My job is to allow people to dream. Make the impossible seem possible.

In life, there are really complex, difficult jobs, and some are more complicated and difficult than others. But when you look around at inventions, or records that have been broken, you have to tell yourself that anything is possible.

Our country has been through some difficult moments recently in terms of its unity. But sport can unite.

If you keep always doing what you've always done, you get the same results.

You can never say you've 'made it,' because that's the day you stop progressing and improving.

There are lots of statements that have been made and haven't led to change and reform. For me, the broader discussion around racism - education is key.

It's impossible to please everybody all of the time, but you just have to believe that you're making decisions for the right reasons.

I am not sure I will ever wear a waistcoat again, frankly!

I have been in sport in different areas for long enough to know what my life is day to day.

I'm very conscious I've got a lot of faults, the same as everyone, and I have done plenty of things wrong.

Gareth Southgate quotes about football and his playing style

Gareth Southgate was a key member of the England national team and one of the best defenders at the Premier League. He was a solid defender during his playing days and as a manager he has turned the England national team's mentality into a winning one. The followings are the

top quotes by Gareth Southgate

about football and his own playing style.

For any player, playing football is important but for young players, particularly so. Those learning experiences are really key. Then you want them to play in big matches as well, to experience playing under pressure and against the best opposition. Last season we were 33 per cent in the

, this year we are down to 30.

In the top six teams, there is a real concern in terms of a decreasing number of English players. It is not that the talent isn't there. We've shown that at youth level it is. But we really need to think seriously about how we give them more opportunities. We have some really exciting players that, if we're not careful, we'll lose because of a lack of opportunities.

Results are a consequence of doing things well and having high standards, improving the detail of how we play.

If Brexit happens, there will have to be change - whether people want it or not - around work permits. It won't be freedom of movement for European players, so that landscape will change.

Every time a young player comes in, he is excited and wants to prove himself, but also in football, the other players want to prove themselves to any new player that comes in, so that competition is the only way to stimulate performance.

Sometimes it's not always a good decision to play if people's energy isn't quite there.

Good teams score late goals.

In any sport, you're at your best when you're playing without thinking too much. You want all players to be free of overthinking. That's when they're in a good place and a good flow.

I'm slightly concerned, because as a centre-half who took a lot of knocks to the head I'm not normally synonymous with being a fashion icon.

The quality of our academy system is very high, as good as anything in the world. Around the country, lots of people in youth development are keen to get together and find a solution to that 17-to-21 age bracket and how we get those players playing.

In the end, success in a shoot-out is being able to perform a particular skill under pressure.

The world always changes, and teams go through evolutions.

As part of their recovery after a match, you want players to stay in the cold water for as long as they can, but naturally, they want to get out. You might have races or games in order to keep them engaged.

Top quotes by Gareth Southgate about famous football players and teams

In this part of the article we present you with the top quotes by Gareth Southgate about other football great stars and teams, including his comments on Harry Maguire and Harry kane.

On Terry Venables:

Terry opened my eyes to things that no one else has. He has fantastic tactical awareness. Every senior player in the group went away having learned a lot from him, which is an achievement.

On Harry Maguire:

Harry Maguire's potential is huge.

On Arsenal:

I don't know how you get in the England squad without getting in the Arsenal team.

On Harry Kane:

He [Kane] knew this morning how many goals in games he had, and also how many Ronaldo and

had at this point. He’s driven to be one of the world’s best. Why can’t that happen moving forward?

Alan Shearer was 25/26 when he was top scorer in ’96. Harry is still in the early stages of his career, but top scorer in the league two years running and in a really good place.

Best Gareth Southgate quotes: playing and managerial career

We wrap up our article on Gareth Southgate quotes with a look at the

best Gareth Southgate quotes

about his club and international career.

On his club career

If you had said to the players when I started at Crystal Palace that I was going to be upheld as the sartorial model for the country, you'd have been hooted out of the training ground. [laughs] As a centre-half with a face like I've got then that's a very rare position to be in. I'm not David Beckham, so we're in trouble.

The club that you start with is always special. I learned a lot during that period even though I hadn't even made the step up. I owe a lot to those people at the club who gave me the opportunity, and of course Alan Smith was a great mentor and always has been in my career. Looking back I will always remember it as a very special period in my life.

I was probably scarred by getting the sack at

.

I didn't like it as a player when I felt a coach was fudging the reasons for leaving me out. As a player, I wanted to know where I was lacking in my game and where I could improve in order to get back in the team.

I was always the captain of every club I played for, so I would expect to be somebody who put themselves forward.

On the Penalty miss against Germany:

It will never be off my back, sadly. That's something that will live with me forever.

I was a volunteer, really in Euro '96. The type of character I was, I felt you should put yourself forward. It is probably braver not to, if you are not confident.

I've learned a million things from that day [Euro '96 semi-final] and the years that followed it. When something goes wrong in your life it doesn't finish you and you should become braver, knowing that you've got to go for things in life and don't regret because you didn't try to be as good as you might be.

The biggest thing, the immediate thing, was the team-mates you were letting down

On becoming England manager:

It is a journey I didn't expect or want to be on. I was hoping that in the last Euros the team was going to do really well and Roy [Roy Hodgson] would still be there. When Sam Allardyce was appointed, I was under-21 coach and there to support him. I have said from the off I wasn't comfortable with the manner in which I took the reins, but I have enjoyed the responsibility. I've enjoyed having the role and I think I was the best qualified person with the best experiences to take it at the time it came up.

It's an incredible privilege to be the England manager, but when you sit and think about the people who have got to this point before, people I hugely respect and admire... it's difficult to put it into perspective, really.

On his coaching philosophy:

Whenever you name a team and whenever you pick a squad that is when you have to make the most difficult calls. To tell a player, 'I'm not selecting you, and these are the reasons why...' it's tough.

It's important to recognise every player is different in their own characteristics, personality, and what they respond to.

I think I've made decisions for the right reasons, and I've always communicated them in a respectful way. As a manager, you can't do any more than that. I sit comfortably with that. But I've not enjoyed it.

Good decisions are not necessarily playing it short every time you get the ball. The best teams can play longer or have a threat behind or play through or around. They adapt.

If we want to be a top team, we can't get to 3-0 and suddenly decide not to play without the ball. We have to play with intelligence right through the game.

Very often, you can go into one game and do really well, and then you have to find that level of performance so quickly again.

Looking at the team sheets, you're never quite sure one weekend to the next who's going to be in a team and who isn't.

I've had a couple of decades thinking it through. It's not about luck. It's not about chance. It's about performing a skill under pressure, there are things you can work on, things that can be helpful for the preparation for the players. We have studied it. There is a lot we can do to own the process, and not be controlled by it.

If we are going to be an outstanding team, we need players who are going to step up in the big moments and realize, every time they play for England, they have the chance to be involved in an iconic moment, a historic performance, and that they have that choice every time they go on the field.

You always have to be conscious of how your words can provide motivation to the opposition.

I manage every player as well as I possibly can, regardless of which club they're from, what their roots are.

I'm sure at some point in my life, I'll want to go back to club football because people will say, 'Oh well, he did OK as an international manager, but he didn't work as a club manager.

Always, as a coach, you have to be thinking not to flood the players with information. You have to think what's key for the player, for that team, and how do we deliver it in a way that it might stick and have an effect.

On England's 2018 World Cup campaign:

It was very painful to be so close to a World Cup final.

Football's Coming Home" was a song I couldn't even listen to for 20 years, frankly, so for me it has a slightly different feel. It's nice to hear people enjoying it again, anyway.

Fabian Delph think we had a great chance to reach the final and we came up short, not just in the near future, I think for the rest of our lives we will be kicking ourselves thinking we had a real opportunity there. (On losing the World Cup semi-final against Croatia)

In the end, we are very proud of what we've done. We're under no illusions as to where we stand as a team; we've finished in the final four but we're not a top-four team yet, we know that, and we've never hidden behind that. Against the very best teams we've come up short, but we've had a wonderful adventure and some experiences that will stand this group of players and staff in really good stead for the future.

We have fantastic supporters who have had to stand with us through decades of disappointment and this was a really special moment for our country, today will give belief for generations to follow and not be hindered by history or expectations.

On losing the final of Euro 2020 to Italy on Penalties

We are hugely disappointed of course, I think firstly the players have been an absolute credit, they have given everything they possibly could.

That is it is down to me, I decided on the penalty takers based on what they have done in training and nobody is on their own. We have won together as a team and it is on all of us together to not be able to win the game tonight and in terms of penalties it is my call and it totally rests with me.

We were well prepared and we started it well, unfortunately we weren’t able to convert tonight. They can’t look at themselves in terms of how they practice because they couldn’t have done that anymore or any better.

We are all together, they have given the country some unbelievable memories, and tonight is going to be extremely difficult for all of us of course. You have to feel that disappointment because the opportunities to win trophies like this are so rare in your life. But when they reflect on what they have done, they should be incredibly proud of themselves.

At the moment the pain of the defeat is huge, we wanted to give our nation one more special night and a first European championship and we haven’t quite been able to do it.

On his future with the England national team:

I said at the time it is great to have that internal support, you greatly value that as a manager. I don't want to commit to anything longer than I should and I don't want to outstay my welcome so all of those things need consideration. I want to take the team to Qatar, I feel we have made progress over the four years, we have had a fourth, a third and a second-placed finish and that is as good as anyone.

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Gareth Southgate quotes

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