Gareth Southgate: England have ‘succession plan’ if head coach leaves after Euro 2024, according to FA

The Football Association has said they have a "succession plan" in place should Gareth Southgate leave his role as England manager.

Southgate leads the Three Lions into an international tournament for the fourth time at Euro 2024, but there has been mounting speculation over how long he will continue in the role beyond the competition in Germany.

The 53-year-old who was appointed in 2016, sees his current contract expire in December with a new deal yet to be agreed.

FA chief executive Mark Bullingham refused to be drawn on Southgate’s future ahead of the Euros but revealed that the organisation is prepared for any significant change.

"I have said before that any organisation really has a succession plan in place for their top employees, and we are no different to that,” he said. “This succession plan normally includes everything from what you do for short-term cover, through to a process you follow to candidates. We have that for top employees.

“That’s really all I want to say on that topic. Just because I want to respect Gareth and the team that they are very focused on the tournament.

“Clearly, you plan lots of different scenarios for all your top employees all the time."

Southgate had been potentially linked with the manager’s job at Manchester United, however, Erik ten Hag now looks set to remain in the role at Old Trafford.

Having led England to the semi-finals and quarter-finals of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups respectively and the final of Euro 2020, the ex-Three Lions defender had suggested the upcoming tournament in Germany could be his last opportunity at silverware with the team.

With these comments naturally fuelling speculation, Bullingham insisted no discussion of Southgate’s future would take place until after the conclusion of the competition.

"What I would say is Gareth has been really, really clear that he wants to talk about that after the tournament,” he added. “I don’t want to provide any distraction for him and the team. I want to respect the fact that they want to talk about the future after the tournament.

“I think the world of Gareth, I think he has done a phenomenal job, I think he has transformed the fortunes of our men’s senior team, and that’s not just off the pitch, which a lot of people talk about, and you can see the culture but also the performances on the pitch.

“You know we value him massively.”

Discussing whether performance in the tournament would impact any decision on Southgate, Bullingham said there would be no specific targets or "arbitrary" point that would influence how the two parties proceed going forwards.

"I know why people would love for there to always be a really arbitrary level but I don’t think you can set one for any tournament with any manager that you judge," he added.

“You could go further but be playing poorly or have a really unlucky result where you get a couple of red cards so I think setting an arbitrary figure isn’t the right way to go. I think we step back and look at everything after the tournament.

"What I’m saying is we will evaluate everything after the tournament, see how he feels, see how we feel and see how the tournament has gone."

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