SPOTLIGHT: Southgate bounces back from Middlesbrough disappointment to close in on England's top job

THE question was a relatively simple one. Hosting a question-and-answer session in front of a group of nine and ten-year-olds at St Augustine’s Primary School in Middlesbrough this week, Gareth Southgate was asked what was required in order to be successful at football.

He turned the question back on his audience. ‘Running fast’ was one response. ‘Being able to pass the ball well’ was another. ‘Shooting like Ronaldo’ brought an appreciative glance from the VIP guest.

Then it was Southgate’s turn to answer. “All of those are important,” he said. “But what would you do if you were playing a match and you were 1-0 behind?” Silence. “Well I wouldn’t give up. I’d keep doing everything I could to try to turn it around. Don’t give in. That’s what’s important in football or whatever you choose to do.”

As a lifestyle template, it could be Southgate’s motto. As a player, he overcame the trauma of one of the most famous penalty misses in the history of English football to carve out a career that featured 57 international caps, more than 600 senior appearances and the lifting of the first major trophy in Middlesbrough’s history.

But it is as a manager that Southgate has really had to respond to adversity in order to emerge as Roy Hodgson’s likeliest successor as England’s number one. Handed his first managerial post at Middlesbrough a matter of months after his playing career had come to an end, the former centre-half was dismissed three years later with his nascent coaching reputation in tatters.

Handed a squad that had just competed in a European final, albeit one containing a number of key players who were coming towards the end of their careers, he oversaw a relegation that has still not been righted by a return to the top-flight.

There were a host of extenuating circumstances behind the relegation – poor transfer decisions taken above him, a need to reduce a wage bill that was threatening to spiral out of control, the inevitable difficulties involved in taking charge of a group of players who had previously been team-mates – but they mattered little in the final reckoning.

Southgate, so the critics concluded, was not management material. He was too nice, too inexperienced and too naive, criticisms that resonated so powerfully he was unable to secure alternative employment until he was appointed to his current role, as England Under-21 boss, in 2013.

“At the time, you don’t know what you don’t know, if that makes sense,” said the 44-year-old, who was back on Teesside this week to help promote England Under-21s friendly with Germany at the Riverside on March 30. “Obviously it was a huge leap of faith by Steve (Gibson) to do it, and looking back with a clear analytical mind, to finish 12th and 13th in the Premier League at that stage of a coaching career was probably the biggest achievement I had in football.

“The disappointment of the last six months of the year we were relegated was the massive one. There were any number of factors for that, but as the manager you always have to take responsibility.

“My regret was leaving the club in a division I didn’t want to leave them in. I’m willing them to get up so there can be a bit of closure on that. But from a personal point of view, coaching and management is all about learning from every experience that you have, and I learned from those three-and-a-half years enormously.

“I think it’s just a process I had to go through. A painful one, admittedly, but an important one nonetheless.”

With the passage of time, so the harsher assessments of Southgate’s failings during his three years in charge of Middlesbrough have softened.

Would anyone have been able to step straight out of their playing kit to make a success of leading a team who found themselves battling in the bottom half of the Premier League? Southgate overturned Premier League regulations in order to take over from Steve McClaren despite lacking the requisite UEFA Pro Licence, yet in hindsight, perhaps the governing body were right to suggest that top-flight management is not a suitable environment for a complete novice.

“Of course you look back and think, ‘Why did I do it like that?’, but you don’t have a clear picture of what the finished product is when you walk through the door,” he said.

“If I step back now, I know what I want my team to look like, and I now know how they have to be coached to end up looking like that on the pitch. I know the profile of players I need in the squad to be able to play that way.

“For anybody in life, five, six or seven years on, unless you’re a fool, you’re going to have learned, evolved and changed. I can’t look back with regrets because I gave everything I had and did what I was able to at the time. In that last year, that wasn’t quite enough, but I’m stronger for the experience, definitely.”

The extent of Southgate’s development can be ascertained from the success of his work with the Under-21s since succeeding Stuart Pearce a year and a half ago.

Not only has he guided his side to this summer’s European Championships finals in the Czech Republic, where they will attempt to improve on the desultory display that Pearce’s side produced at the last major finals in 2013, but he has also helped oversee the development of the likes of Calum Chambers, Luke Shaw and Raheem Sterling, who have all graduated to full honours with the senior side.

As well as being in charge of the Under-21s, Southgate is also the head of all the FA’s national representative teams at St George’s Park and, prior to succeeding Pearce, he led a youth development review that championed the introduction of small-sided matches and goals to help youngsters improve their technical skills.

He is clearly highly respected within the FA hierarchy, and while it might be hard to imagine him returning to Premier League management any time soon, it is not too much of a leap of faith to picture him succeeding Hodgson after the next European Championships in France.

“A lot of my work is with the Under-21s, but over half of it is probably with the other development age groups and I enjoy that,” said Southgate. “We’ve made improvements, but we feel as though there’s a lot of work still needed to be done to get to where we want to be.

“It’s a great environment to work in and learn, and we think we can have an impact on the future. I believe in the project and when you’re talking about your country, it’s something that’s easy for you to have close at heart. That’s important when you’re working.”

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GARETH SOUTHGATE has praised Ben Gibson’s “leadership qualities” and highlighted the Middlesbrough defender as a key member of the likely England squad that will compete at this summer’s European Under-21 Championships in the Czech Republic.

Southgate handed Gibson his Under-21 debut against Qatar last May, and the Teessider, who turned 22 on Thursday, has gone on to win another eight caps for his national side.

While Aitor Karanka has rotated Gibson in and out of the Middlesbrough side this season, Southgate has increasingly viewed him as an integral part of his first-choice line-up, and the defender is expected to start on home soil when England entertain Germany in March.

“All managers are looking for leaders, and we don’t necessarily breed as many in society now,” said Southgate. “From the minute Ben came into our group, he became a focal point in a positive way.

“You could see the qualities he had. We took him to Toulon (for the 2014 Toulon Tournament), probably on the back of one or two players being in the play-offs, and he’s subsequently become a big part of our set up.

“We’ve got great competition for places in that area of the field, but he’s a good defender. It’s important he keeps working on what he does with the ball, but his leadership qualities are outstanding and, as a centre-back, the leadership and organisation of others is a big attribute.”

Southgate is equally enthusiastic about Patrick Bamford, who won his second Under-21 cap in November’s friendly with Portugal.

In Harry Kane and Danny Ings, England’s Under-21 side boasts two strikers who have made a major impression in the Premier League this season, and Southgate fully expects Bamford, who is on a season-long loan at Middlesbrough from Chelsea, to be operating at that level soon.

“Patrick’s really blossomed over the last six months in particular,” he said. “Young players gain in confidence so quickly, and I think he’s now looking much more able to play the number nine role.

“He’s gaining more strength and his hold-up play is getting better. He’s always had the ability to score a goal out of nothing, but certainly his build-up play and work without the ball is improving. That will be a lot of Aitor’s (Karanka) work because I know the way he works on the training ground.”

* Gareth Southgate was at St Augustine’s Primary School as part of a coaching skills session run by the MFC Foundation, Middlesbrough Football Club’s independent charity .

England Under-21s game with Germany takes place at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium on Monday, March 30 (7.45pm). Tickets are priced at £10 for adults and £1 for children and concessions, and are available by calling 0844 499 1234 or online via mfc.co.uk/tickets.