Potter, Pochettino, Klopp: Who could be England's next manager?

Gareth Southgate’s resignation on Tuesday, two days after defeat in the Euro 2024 final, officially got the race to become the next England manager up and running.

The English Football Association (FA) had wanted the 53-year-old Southgate to stay on through to the 2026 FIFA World Cup but, after four tournaments, Southgate felt it was “time for a new chapter” and walked away from the role he acquired eight years ago.

Southgate may not have ended the England men’s team’s 58-year wait for a trophy but his record of two Euros finals, one World Cup semifinal and another quarterfinal is the most sustained period of consistency in England’s history.

Whatever his shortcomings, he will be a tough act to follow. So who are the main contenders and what will the FA factor into its thinking in choosing the next manager?

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The English options

The FA will start by identifying the best Englishman for the role. This is not evidence of a “Little Englander” mentality but more a principle relating to the development of St. George’s Park as a national hub for developing players and coaches.

The FA wants SGP to become a hotbed for domestic talent at all levels of the game, produced with an innate understanding of English football. Southgate, who earned 57 caps as a player, joined the FA in 2011 as head of elite development before later becoming England under-21s manager. He stepped up from that role in 2016 to succeed Sam Allardyce as senior boss.

That pathway suggests that incumbent U21s manager Lee Carsley would be considered but the 50-year-old has only managed at youth-team level aside from brief caretaker roles at Coventry City, Brentford and Birmingham City. It would be a huge reach given the calibre of players he has taken over, even if the FA will be mindful that the winners of the last Euros and World Cup — Spain‘s Luis de la Fuente and Argentina‘s Lionel Scaloni — had little managerial pedigree prior to succeeding on the international stage.

The initial front-runners therefore are Eddie Howe and Graham Potter. Howe steered Newcastle United into the Champions League for the first time in 20 years and has brought a steady to hand to the club’s Saudi Arabian takeover. His Newcastle side combines good organisation with resilience and attacking quality, a mix that will appeal to the FA, while he is a largely unflustered presence in front of the media. Southgate was a fantastic ambassador for England and a thoughtful communicator, and this will be another important characteristic.

Howe’s success in punching above his weight with previous club AFC Bournemouth is also commendable. He secured promotion from League One up to the Premier League with the Cherries before spending five years in English football’s top flight prior to their relegation in 2020. However, the 46-year-old is reportedly under contract until 2027. Newcastle have already made positive noises about keeping Howe and it is unclear whether he would want the job.

Potter is available having spent 16 months out of the game since being sacked by Chelsea in April 2023. Sources have told ESPN that prior to joining Chelsea, Potter was identified as the FA’s preferred choice should something unexpected happen with Southgate, who almost walked away from the role after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Sources say Potter would be interested in succeeding Southgate but it remains to be seen whether his seven-month spell at Stamford Bridge has damaged his standing in the eyes of the FA. Potter did not handle the scrutiny that comes with the Chelsea job particularly well, nor was he able to impose his style on a new group of players. Prior to that, however, his Brighton & Hove Albion side was one of the most innovative in the Premier League.

The overseas contenders

The FA has shown in the appointment of Sarina Wiegman to lead the England women’s team that they are not opposed to looking overseas to fill management positions.

“We have two senior coaches,” said FA chief executive Mark Bullingham on the eve of Euro 2024. “One of them is English, one of them is not. Any federation in the world would always want to have a pool of top homegrown talent playing and managing at any time.”

Two managers not born in England have previously held the men’s role: Sven-Göran Eriksson of Sweden, between 2001 and 2006, and Italy’s Fabio Capello between 2008 and 2012. The door is therefore ajar for a foreign contender and the most obvious options would appeal to any ruthless streak the FA wants to demonstrate.

Mauricio Pochettino has a strong track record of managing in England having spent five-and-a-half years at Tottenham Hotspur and a season at Chelsea, where he left in May. Pochettino also has a strong relationship with FA technical director John McDermott, dating back to the pair’s time together at Spurs. Sources have told ESPN that they remain close and Pochettino would be interested in speaking to the FA about the role if they were interested.

Pochettino is credited with instilling a positive culture at Tottenham — guiding them improbably to the 2019 UEFA Champions League final while making them top-four regulars. Culture will be an important consideration for the FA given one of Southgate’s biggest successes was to make players want to play for England again, redefining their relationship with the national team. That cannot be neglected without him.

The possibility of an ex-Argentina international managing England would throw up complications, not least reviving a debate over the Falkland Islands — an archipelago off the coast of Argentina under British rule. Argentina has contested that right of sovereignty for more than 200 years.

Similarly, hiring a German coach such as Thomas Tuchel would be an obstacle to overcome in the minds of many. Yet Tuchel speaks excellent English (better than Pochettino) and has an undeniable pedigree having won the Champions League with Chelsea while also managing Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and, most recently, Bayern Munich. Both managers are unattached and, unlike Eriksson or Capello prior to their respective appointments, both are already well-known and admired in England.

The ex-players

Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard are part of England’s so-called “Golden Generation,” a spell in the 2000s when the Three Lions had a galaxy of stars all over the pitch but were unable to deliver a major honour.

Neither Howe nor Potter can call on the same playing experience as Gerrard or Lampard. The former teammates in England’s midfield are fourth and eighth on the national team’s all-time appearance list respectively.

However, both have had complicated managerial careers. Gerrard won the Scottish Premiership title with Rangers in 2021 but subsequently struggled at Aston Villa before joining Saudi Pro League club Al Ettifaq. Lampard almost got Derby County promoted from the Championship — losing the 2018-19 playoff final to Aston Villa — in his first managerial role before guiding Chelsea into the Champions League. He was sacked in January 2021 and replaced by Tuchel, who won the Champions League five months later.

The long shots

No appointment would excite England supporters more than either Jürgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola succeeding Southgate. A key criticism of Southgate has been that this group of England players needs a big-name, progressive coach to mould England’s individual attacking talent into a powerful collective force.

Klopp is technically available after leaving Liverpool. However, he has suggested he may never manage again and even if he does return, as many expect, Klopp will first surely want a lengthy break having cited a lack of energy as his reason for departing Anfield.

Intriguingly, the FA has hinted it has an interim option if necessary, meaning it could wait for the right person. England have UEFA Nations League games against Republic of Ireland, Finland and Greece to see out the year and the World Cup qualifiers do not begin until March 2025 so there is time — in theory — if the FA wanted to wait for Klopp. The 57-year-old has ruled out ever managing another club in England, but not the national team.

Guardiola is under contract at Manchester City until 2025 and his phenomenal success there would make him an attractive option to almost any federation or club in world football. As a proud Catalan and a supporter of his home region’s independence, Guardiola has also distanced himself from ever managing Spain’s national team.

It would require a hugely ambitious and expensive plan to lure him into managing England. But he has previously spoken about one day trying his hand at international management.

“I would like to play a World Cup and a European Championship,” he said in 2018. “I would like to live in that situation.”

In his parting message to Southgate, Bullingham declared that he had made “the impossible job possible.” Whoever comes next knows they have just one target: winning the 2026 World Cup.