Gareth Southgate knows next year’s Euros will have to go extremely well for it to be a “possibility in anybody’s eyes” for him to stay on as England manager. The 52-year-old was parachuted into the hotseat following Sam Allardyce’s ignominious exit in 2016 and has gone on to oversee the national team’s best spell since winning the World Cup. England reached the 2018 semi-finals before losing the delayed Euro 2020 final in an agonising penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy at Wembley. There were more signs of progress as the team were edged out by France at last year’s World Cup, but a challenging year meant Southgate had to weigh up whether to see out his contract until 2024. The England boss decided to stay on after a week of contemplation following Qatar, but next summer’s European Championship could prove his last finals in charge. “My contract is until the December,” Southgate said. “That was always put in place because it would allow everybody reflection time, really.” Asked if the Euros would be his last tournament, Southgate said: “Who knows? “I think we’ll have to go very, very well for that to be a possibility in anybody’s eyes and that’s fair enough. I’m more than comfortable with that. “My aim is to try and win the tournament and everything I do is geared around that and every conversation I have with the players now is geared around that. “So, what will happen in the future at the moment it isn’t at the forefront of my mind, but trying to win this European Championship is.” England are third favourites with the bookmakers to triumph in Germany next year, and that is all the manager is focused on right now. ‘Succession’ is a buzzword thanks to the popular US TV series, but Southgate has not seen the show and was unwilling to talk about potential candidates for a job he cares deeply about. “Whatever (input) John (McDermott, Football Association technical director) and everybody else at the FA would like, really,” he said. “I’m not precious about it. If I could help in any way, at whatever point. I try to do that now with involvement in the pro licence, with reaching out to English coaches. “We’ve had people in to have the odd day here and there with us at training. “That’s not my decision but I’d always help English football as much as I can. “At whatever point I leave here, hopefully we’ve won something, but if I’m the second most successful I’ll be more than happy to become third very quickly. “I joined here to help English football and that will never change for me.” England’s immediate focus is taking a giant stride towards Germany by beating Malta and North Macedonia in June, but for a number of players their future is up in the air. Harry Kane, Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham are subject of widespread speculation, while a lack of game-time is an issue for Southgate’s favourites Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips. “There’s potentially a lot of movement with that squad we’ve picked across the summer, but I think it will be later in the summer,” the England boss said. “It doesn’t worry me how it plays out. I think as a player you always back yourself. You’ve got to. “You’ve got to have the mentality that ‘wherever I go I’m going to force my way into the team’ until such point as which it becomes apparent where ‘maybe I’ve got to go’. “And maybe we’ve got a couple in the squad who’ve got that decision to go through in their own minds this summer.” That self-confidence has paid dividends for Jack Grealish, who struggled to make the desired impact in his first season at Manchester City. But the 27-year-old has come on leaps and bounds this term under Pep Guardiola, who Southgate considers the best coach in the world. “I’m a huge admirer,” the England boss said. “He knows that, I’ve told him. “Of course it’s been brilliant for our players to work with him and they have learned individually, tactically and, probably as much as anything, that mentality. “You mention Jack, he’s played properly, I would say, in this period. You know, against Real Madrid with and without the ball. “That wasn’t the case two-and-a-half years ago, if I’m honest, so there’s been a lot of progress.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Erik ten Hag confident Marcus Rashford can score 40 goals in a season I’ll stay at Newcastle as long as I’m wanted – Eddie Howe Ryan Mason believes Daniel Levy has ‘been let down by other people’ at Tottenham

Trevor Francis, British football’s first £1million player, has died at the age of 69. The ex-Birmingham striker, who scored Nottingham Forest’s winner in their 1979 European Cup final triumph, earned 52 England caps and later guided Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham to major finals as a manager. Plymouth-born Francis burst onto the scene as a teenager with Birmingham, making his first-team debut at 16 in 1970. “He died in Spain this morning from a heart attack,” said a spokesman. Forest shattered the British transfer record when they paid £1.15million for him in 1979, although manager Brian Clough famously claimed the fee was £999,999 to take pressure off the player. He started his career at Birmingham, playing 328 times and scoring 133 goals. In 1971, at just 16-years-old, he became the youngest ever player to score four times in Football League history in Blues’ 4-0 win over Bolton. He earned his record move to Forest in 1979 and headed the winner in the 1-0 victory over Malmo to win the European Cup just a few months later. Francis missed the European Cup win over Hamburg a year later through injury and joined Manchester City in 1981. Spells at Sampdoria, where he won the Coppa Italia, Atalanta, Rangers and QPR – where he was player-manager – followed. He moved to Sheffield Wednesday in 1990 before he replaced Ron Atkinson as manager. Under Francis, the Owls finished third in the old First Division in his first season in charge before finishing seventh in the newly created Premier League while also being runners up in the FA Cup and League Cup. He left in 1995 and returned to Birmingham the following year, reaching the play-offs three times and also the 2001 League Cup final where they lost to Liverpool. Francis left St Andrew’s in October 2001 and joined Crystal Palace soon after, leaving the Eagles in 2003 in what was his last job. Francis spent half a year in Spain and the rest in Solihull. He suffered a heart attack 11 years ago and had kept himself fit with daily power walks. He had an annual health check through the League Managers’ Association and, according to his spokesman, was “enjoying life very much having eventually got over the death of his wife”. Helen passed away in 2017 after a battle with cancer.

Today's USMNT gossip includes Folarin Balogun being linked withFulham.Borussia Monchengladbach areinterested in Brandon Vazquez and Cade Cowell could be on his way to Bologna.USMNT gossip: Folarin Balogun to FulhamFolarin Balogun has been surprisingly linked with Tottenham Hotspur. However,...

Toto Wolff insists any view of George Russell dramatically losing form in 2023 is a “myth” as the Mercedes boss defended his driver. Russell, in his first season with Mercedes, finished above team-mate Lewis Hamilton in 2022 by 35 points – and also won the first F1 race of his career in Brazil – but has seen the roles reverse this year. The 25-year-old is currently seventh in the world championship standings, 57 points behind Hamilton, and retired late on in Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix due to a puncture caused by a tangle with Lando Norris. Yet Wolff believes talk of Russell’s under-performance in the first 13 races of this season have been exaggerated. “I’ve never bought into this thought,” Wolff said, after Sunday’s race. “When you and I are having a bad day, nobody knows, but if a driver has a bad day and he’s probably a tenth off, that makes all the difference in qualifying. “So all drivers have days that are not so good and we’ve seen these ups and downs with George but the quality of the driver I’ve never doubted a minute. “He was able to shine [in qualifying], put the car on P3, had a problem-free qualifying and no traffic so I haven’t seen any pattern change. “I’m trying to really bang it into his head that he hasn’t lost his form, that it is just the myth that he’s making up. “You don’t unlearn to driver and you don’t lose your form. You can have ups and downs like all of us have but every single weekend when things have gone against him, it was pretty clear why that was and it wasn’t the driving.” Russell has a chance to get back to points-scoring finishes this weekend at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Read More Lewis Hamilton says ‘totally wrong’ weather forecast cost Mercedes a podium spot Max Verstappen survives dramatic rain chaos to claim record-equalling victory at Dutch GP Christian Horner hails ‘untouchable’ Max Verstappen as best driver in the world Christian Horner hails ‘untouchable’ Max Verstappen as best driver in the world Lewis Hamilton says ‘totally wrong’ weather forecast cost Mercedes a podium spot Max Verstappen survives dramatic rain chaos to triumph at Dutch Grand Prix

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