Gareth Southgate Talks Crystal Palace, Harry Redknapp for England and Getting Back into Management

While progressing through the Crystal Palace academy, there where high hopes that a skinny young defender by the name of Gareth Southgate could go on to become an established first team regular. After making his debut for the club at just 18 years of age, Southgate was soon captaining the Eagles to promotion to Division One and catching the eye of then England manager Terry Venables.

Having made more than 150 appearances for Palace, Southgate was on the move to an ever improving Aston Villa side that was pushing for European football. Together with Ugo Ehiogu, the pair formed a formidable partnership that saw Villa win the League Cup in the pair's first season together. Now a regular for England, Southgate was instrumental in helping Venable's side reach the semi-finals, but was unfortunately made the scape goat as his penalty miss knocked England out of the tournament.

Southgate stayed with Villa until 2001 when he made the move to the north east as Steve McClaren convinced him to join Middlesbrough. He was soon captaining the side to the club's first major trophy - the Carling Cup in 2004. More successful years followed as Southgate helped Boro to reach the UEFA Cup Final, his final game as a professional footballer being a 4-0 loss to Sevilla.

After making the tough decision to hang up his boots, management quickly came calling as he took charge of Middlesbrough and for the next three years realised how tough it was to manage in the top flight. With a limited budget, it was near impossible to keep the club in the Premier League and relegation came in 2009. With Boro sitting in fourth place in the Championship, Southgate was surprisingly handed his marching orders. Since then he has gone on to land a role at the FA as the Head of Elite Development, working closely with Sir Trevor Brooking.

Here Gareth exclusively tells Sportsvibe about his beloved Crystal Palace, why he thinks Harry Redknapp could be the next England manager and what his own future holds.

Have you been surprised at how well your former club, Crystal Palace, have done so far this season?

They have probably exceeded their own expectations. I am delighted for Dougie [Freedman], as he is obviously a legend with the fans and there seems to be a really good togetherness within the club. I have spoken to the owners and they are Palace fans and are very passionate about the club. The supporters have been through so much with the points deductions, relegation battles and administration, so it is fantastic to see Palace doing so well.

Palace have enjoyed a successful run in the Carling Cup, is it still a competition that holds importance for the majority of clubs?

I think it's still an important competition. Some people will say we have to many matches but I won it twice with Middlesbrough and the first time the club hadn't won a major trophy in 128 years. Then you look at Birmingham beating Arsenal and you see that it is gives teams a great opportunity to give their fans a once in a lifetime experience and that is what it's all about. If you think that only one of three of four clubs can win the league then the chance to win something then the competition takes on extra imporrtance. Football should be about dreams and aspirations and that competition is a way to fulfill that. To go to a final and support your club is massive.

Palace have a tradition of producing decent young players and it seems as though Nathaniel Clyne and Wilfried Zaha are the next in the production line. Can Palace keep hold of the pair?

Both have been involved with England junior teams and Nathaniel has been a regular with England at Under-21 level. Historically it is a good catchment area for kids. If you look at the population within a ten mile radius there are a lot of kids and fortunately Palace run a good academy. The great thing about Palace is that they give their kids a chance. You can run the best program in the world but if the kids don't have the opportunity to play then you'll never know how good they might be. Palace will certainly want to hold onto the pair and realistically, unless they are going to go to a top ten Premier League club, then I'm sure a club like Palace can keep their loyalty.

Moving away from Palace and changing focus to the Premier League, we have seen Tottenham challenge the top two this season, do you feel as though they can maintain their title tilt?

Well, with more than 20 games gone I think you can safely say they are challenging. I'm not surprised at all as they managed to keep Luka Modric and have brought in [Scott] Parker and [Emmanuel] Adebayor who have certainly improved the side. Defensively they are solid and they have a decent squad. Expectations are probably more on [Manchester] United and [Manchester] City to achieve so they have been able to progress fairly quietly abut I think that will change. In the next few weeks they will come more under the spotlight and it's how they handle that. They are definite contenders.

You now have a role at the FA, so do you believe Harry Redknapp is a genuine contender for the England manager's role?

I think if we are saying that ideally we want the next England manager to be English, then we have Roy Hodgson and Alan Pardew who have done excellent jobs at the team they are at. Harry and Roy have a wealth of experience in European competitions and international football with Roy. Clearly Harry is going to be spoken about as a candidate, but I can't imagine Tottenham will want to lose him any time soon. The chairman at the FA refuses to discuss the role until after Euro 2012 which is understandable as the focus is to support Fabio as much as the association can. But it is great to see guys like Harry, Alan and Roy doing so well. What we need to do is develop more English coaches and managers so that we have a bigger pool of people to pick from.

It is difficult for young English managers to get top jobs, do you feel as though they need to start in the lower divisions?

I think the more experience you can get the better. I was fortunate to get a Premier League job straight away but maybe in the end that wasn't such a good thing. You are making your mistakes in a much higher profile environment. We had good results and it was a fantastic learning experience, but it was high profile and your errors are very public and people write you off very quickly. It is a difficult balance as you need an opportunity somewhere but learning your trade in the lower divisions is helpful for the longer term.

Does the FA encourage both players and coaches to try and experience life abroad?

I think it is a superb idea for players and coaches. It could be seen as quite brave as not many Brits make the decision to head abroad but those that have, have tended to be quite successful. Steve McClaren did superbly well in his first spell in Holland with FC Twente while Roy Hodgson was extremely successful wherever he went . Culturally, we are not the type of people that travel and work in other countries so I admire people that go and do it. It is not an easy decision to make but I am sure that everyone that has done it will say that they are richer for the experience and culturally more aware. I am sure football-wise, they will be more developed and it will be a fantastic life experience.

And finally, what does the future hold for Gareth Southgate. Would you consider getting back into management?

I certainly wouldn't rule it out. The great thing is, coaching-wise, I needed to go away and learn and I have done that now. I am very fortunate in that I have been able to travel and see people work. The honest answer is that I don't know what I want to do moving forward. I never expected to be manager of Middlesbrough a month before it happened and I never thought I would be working for the FA. Opportunities come along and you have to see what excites you and then be open to move on.


Gareth Southgate was speaking at the launch of the Carlsberg Pub Cup, a nationwide five aside competition for players of all standards. To register your pub visit www.carlsberg.co.uk/pubcup. Carlsberg is The Official Beer of The England Football Team and sponsor of UEFA EURO 2012™.