Brighton head coach Graham Potter and Aston Villa’s Steven Gerrard have been suggested as future England managers as the pressure piles up on Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate.
Former England international Ray Parlour tipped the Premier League managerial duo following the nation’s disastrous run of form which has seen them go winless in four without scoring – their worst run of form since the Roy Hodgson era – and suffering their heaviest home defeat since 1928.
However, Parlour, who registered 10 caps for the Three Lions, stressed that no decision should be made on Southgate’s future until after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which starts in November.
‘If he fails at the World Cup, then obviously [Southgate’s] jobs up,’ Parlour told talkSPORT on Wednesday. ‘In the future, someone like Steven Gerrard [could take the England job].
‘Right now, you’d probably look at someone like Graham Potter, wouldn’t you? Ideally, you want an Englishman to manage England but you also want the best coach.’
Potter, 47, regarded as one of the best current English managers in the game, has been in charge of Brighton for three full seasons – leading them to 15th, 16th and ninth-place finishes respectively.
He has worked his way up the managerial ranks, starting his career in Sweden with Ostersund, where he achieved three promotions, won the Swedish domestic cup and guided them to the Europa League knockout stages in 2017-18 before a stint with Swansea City in the Championship.
Gerrard, considered one of the best midfielders of his generation and one of only nine players to clock up more than 100 England caps, has been in charge of Villa since November following an impressive spell with Rangers – winning the Scottish Premiership title amid an Invincible league season in 2020-21.
Meanwhile, Southgate, who led England to the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and Euro 2020 final, has admitted he is ‘hurt’ by their performance last night, with the 4-0 defeat to Hungary becoming the first time in history they have lost by four or more goals on home soil without scoring.
‘Tonight was the sort of night that a lot of my predecessors have experienced and it’s difficult to stand there,’ he said.
‘I’m not going to say it doesn’t hurt but it’s very clear to me what we were trying to do across these four matches and the irony is that the two Nations League campaigns have been the ones that have heaped negativity and pressure on to us and you wouldn’t normally have that as an England manager.
‘I’ve got to go with that, it’s my job to protect the players, they’ve been exceptional in their attitude, and the results are my responsibility.’
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