Gareth Southgate has addressed his future as England manager following the heartbreaking defeat in the Euro 2024 final.
After what has been a difficult but hard-fought couple of weeks for Three Lions out in Germany at European football’s flagship tournament, England unfortunately fell at the final hurdle as they lost to 2-1 to Spain in the final of UEFA Euro 2024.
It’s fair to say that this year’s tournament was made up of both some underwhelming performances and exciting last-minute moments in the form of decisive goals to secure victories which took Gareth Southgate’s men right to their second consecutive Euros final – which took place in Berlin last night (14 July).
While millions of England fans nationwide began to believe 2024 was the year football may, in fact, be coming home, sadly it just wasn’t meant to be.
Now that the dust has settled, and football fans begin to wake up to a new week and prepare to crack on as normal, Gareth Southgate has addressed his future as England manager in some open and honest interviews, and has given his take on his team’s performance in the losing match and what the players maybe could have done better to have stood a chance at taking home the title.
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He’s also given fans some words of hope to take with them in the immediate aftermath.
Southgate described the opportunity of getting to another Euros final as a “privilege”, but admitted that to “come up short” at the last step is “hard at the moment”.
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He told the ITV following the game: “The players will take enormous credit for getting us to where we did, but when you’re as close as that, you have to take your chance. They have represented the shirt with pride and haven’t been beaten until the very end. I just think Spain had more control of the game.”
England’s starting 11 in the final of UEFA Euro 2024 / Credit: Eddie Keogh (The FA and England on Facebook via Getty)
When pressed on his future, and asked by the BBC about whether he will remain in his position as England manager, Southgate said he felt that it was “hard to reflect” on his eight years in charge, but that ultimately, “now is not the time for me to speak about [my future]”.
“I need to talk to the right people and give myself a bit of time,” he admitted.
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"I need to talk to the right people and give myself a bit of time."
Looking forward to what’s ahead for the men’s national team, whether or not he is at the helm, Southgate had more of a positive outlook, and told ITV: “England are in a really good position in terms of the experience they have. Most of this squad will be around for the next World Cup and maybe the next Euros.
“England have some fabulous players. We have been consistently back in the matches that matter. It’s the last step we haven’t been able to do.”
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Emily Sergeant -
15th July 2024 
