Gareth Southgate told BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs that he made the decision to leave his job as England manager before the end of Euro 2024.
The 54-year-old, a guest on the latest episode of the long-running show, chose Adele’s “Someone Like You” as one of eight songs he would take with him if he were stranded on a desert island, he told host Lauren. Laverne who “continued playing until the end of the last Euro Cup” because “I knew I was going to leave.”
Southgate resigned as manager in July, two days after England were beaten 2-1 by Spain in the Euro 2024 final.
However, he revealed that before the final he had already decided that it was “time to change everywhere.”
Speaking about Adele’s song, Southgate said: “There were so many words in it that, even if I listen to it today, it relates to my relationship with England.”
The song, which appears on Adele’s 2011 album 21, is written from the point of view of a woman addressing her ex-partner.
“They have to move on and you wish them the best and there are regrets, but actually memories were made,” Southgate explained.
The former midfielder and defender led his country to 102 matches in eight years in charge and is the only coach, apart from 1966 World Cup winner Sir Alf Ramsey, to take the England men’s team to a final of a important tournament, which he did twice: at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024.
He told Desert Island Discs that he’s “not against” doing something “totally different” and that his next step in his career “doesn’t have to be coaching.”
“When you’re a coach and you’ve had one of the most important jobs, how do you keep up with it?” Southgate said.
