Teddy Sheringham believes Gareth Southgate can bring back England’s style from Euro 96
Pair were team-mates in Terry Venables’ England side which thrashed Holland 4-1 en route to the semi-finals
GOOD football’s coming home.
Teddy Sheringham believes Gareth Southgate can bring back the style of Euro 96.
Sheringham and Southgate were team-mates in Terry Venables’ England side which thrashed Holland 4-1 en route to the semi-finals more than two decades ago.
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And the former Millwall, Tottenham and Manchester United forward thinks Southgate is the man to restore the kind of football needed to stop the Three Lions flopping at major tournaments.
Sheringham said: “Gareth did a great job with the Under-21s.
“What Gareth tried to do, the way he got them playing football, was more in the European style. I think that’s how we need to be.
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“Other people think we should be England — the way we play in the Premier League, up and at ’em.
“We’ve tried that for the last 20-odd years and I’m really against the type of football that we’ve played in getting knocked out of competitions.
“For me, the only time we changed from doing it was when Venables was in charge and a bit after that with Glenn Hoddle.
“He had fantastic views on how to play football as well.
“The way Venables had us playing in Euro 96 was the way forward.
“I feel that Gareth — having been involved in that — understands the way Terry wanted us to play.
“I think he is on the same sort of lines.”
Sheringham himself would love the opportunity to get back into either coaching or management after his first job, at League Two Stevenage, ended with the sack in February last year just eight months into the role.
It is a startling fact that only two former England internationals are managers of clubs in the top four divisions — Nigel Clough at Burton Albion and Keith Curle at Carlisle.
Sheringham fears a lot of valuable experience, not just his, is going to waste.
The 51-cap striker, who holds a Uefa A licence and spent time as an attacking coach at West Ham under Sam Allardyce, said: “You look at Ajax. They have ex-players — centre-halves, midfielders, wingers, forward players, every position — so that they can help develop players along the way.
“Players who have been proper internationals who are still within the club, circulating, having little words in the ears of people. When you talk about the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, it’s great to have them involved.
“Get them involved with these clubs and England, learning what it is all about.
“Stevenage hasn’t put me off. But my son Charlie was the only one who said to me when I was offered the Stevenage job, ‘What happens if you don’t do well there, dad? Where do you go from there?’
“People look at it now and think, ‘If he can’t do it at Stevenage . . . ’
“You want to learn on the lower level on a smaller scale and then progress from there. But when it goes the other way . . . ”
Sheringham is not bitter, just a little frustrated.
Things have not fallen into place for him as neatly as they have for Southgate.
The Three Lions boss was captain of Middlesbrough when Steve McClaren left to manage England and so was able to cut his managerial teeth at Premier League level, before he was sacked after three years in charge.
And when Allardyce had to go because of the latest in a long line of embarrassing episodes for English football, Under-21s boss Southgate was on hand as the replacement.
That was despite having ruled himself out of succeeding Roy Hodgson just months earlier.
Sheringham said: “If he wasn’t working for the Under-21s at the time within the FA, I don’t think they would have plucked him to be the next England manager.
“It seems to have worked nicely. Right place, right time.
“Having said that, I think he is an outstanding candidate for the job.”
Southgate, of course, has some unfinished business with tonight’s opponents Germany after being the on-pitch fall guy for the Euro 96 semi-final defeat on penalties.
Sheringham said: “It was a setback for all of us.
“For him personally, you know you’re going to be remembered for the rest of your life.
“You get remembered for missing penalties in major shootouts.”
But at least Southgate now has the chance to earn recognition as the England manager who finally ended the run of limp exits from major tournaments.
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