In recent years, there was only one man behind Harry Maguire – Gareth Southgate. When the Manchester United defender was out of form and the main actor of the social media abuse, the England manager stood by him and called him to the national team even when he was a third option for Erik ten Hag and how he could potentially be his new coach. There are serious media reports that new minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is considering hiring Southgate as the new coach after EURO. But Maguire would like Southgate to stay as England boss for a number of years.Ratcliffe found a replacement for Ten HagAsked if he thinks that the former Middlesborough coach should remain England manager, the United’s defender had no dilemma.”Yes, definitely. I don’t know what’s going to happen after the Euros, I don’t know if he knows what’s going to happen. But I feel like what he’s done from when he first took over this job to where we are at now, we’ve taken huge strides and he’s a massive part of that.”England fans furious over new Nike kitSouthgate’s contract is up at the end of the year, and any extension would probably happen after the EURO 2024. So far, Southgate has led The Albion to three tournaments (this will be the fourth) and reached the 2018 World Cup semi-finals, lost the Euro 2020 final to Italy on penalties and was beaten by France in the World Cup quarter-finals in 2022.“He’s definitely got the recognition and respect of the players, everyone who has worked under him and people who are close to him, people whose opinions matter to him. Listen, being the England manager is so tough, it’s one of the most scrutinised jobs in the world. Every time he picks a squad there is a massive debate – he’s done something wrong every time. But all you can look at is where we were before he took over and where we are now. Everyone will say, “Yeah, but we’ve got great talent coming through, better players now”. But in previous years we have also had great talent and we haven’t been successful. So, I think he does deserve a lot of credit. He has taken us a long way and he fully gets the respect from all the players. If you speak to anyone they will speak highly of Gareth and his management tactically, but also his man-management as well. He’s brilliant” said Maguire.🚨🗣️ Harry Maguire: “There’s loads of people who probably don’t think I should be in the England squad. There’s millions of people that think I should be. I’m mentally strong. I’ve overcome a lot. I have great belief in my ability.” #MUFC pic.twitter.com/oqaAyKJUgR— UtdTruthful (@Utdtruthful) March 22, 2024 After coming so close in recent tournaments, the logical question for Maguire was will anything but a title at EURO would be considered a failure. “I feel as a group we’re ready to win. If you asked every single player in the squad they’d say the expectation is to win the tournament. However, we do understand that it’s tournament football and if we are going to win the Euros, you are probably going to have to win a penalty shoot-out, so you are going to have to be prepared on that aspect” replied Maguire. ##NAJAVA_MECA_7975205##
