Gareth Southgate has ruled out a return to Premier League football with the former England manager revealing how he has not attended a single game in almost 18 months.
Southgate spent eight years in charge of his national team before resigning after the Euro 2024 final loss to Spain. However, the last match he attended was the 2025 Champions League final when Paris Saint-Germain thrashed Inter Milan 5-0, having also been at the 2025 FA Cup final to see Crystal Palace beat Manchester City 1-0.
Since then, the 56-year-old has not stepped inside a stadium and has hardly watched any football whatsoever, having seemingly fallen out of love with the game.
He has also admitted that he ‘did not even enjoy the wins’ towards the end of his time with England while discussing why a move into club management is not in the offing, despite being routinely linked with sides such as Manchester United.
‘I don’t see a scenario where I do that,’ Southgate said when asked whether he would consider a return to the Premier League on The Amol Rajan Connection podcast.
‘Towards the end of my time with England, I stopped enjoying (it). For a period, you know, the wins keep you going. By the end, I didn’t even enjoy the wins for any longer than a couple of minutes.
Gareth Southgate has suggested he will never manage in the Premier League again
‘I’ve hardly watched football (since leaving). I went to the Champions League final, the year after I left England, 2025, and I went to the FA Cup final to see my team (Crystal) Palace win their first trophy, but not been to a football ground since.’
Southgate has not managed at club level since a three-year spell at Middlesbrough from 2006. Since exiting the England national team in 2024, he has worked as part of UEFA’s Technical Observer Group in an advisory role, released a book called ‘Dear England: Lessons in Leadership’, and participated in some media work.
However, he has largely stayed away from the spotlight since stepping away from the international scene.
Southgate added: ‘I’ve had 37 years where my sense of self depended on, “Did I win? Did I win or lose on Saturday?” I’m not interested in survival, you know, just being a manager because it’s a good salary. Survival, that doesn’t excite me.
‘One of the beauties with England was we could win, we could create history, we could break new ground. I’ve given a lot of my life to football. I’ve given every ounce I had. And I just fancy a different period of my life.’
Southgate was appointed England manager on a temporary basis in September 2016 following the resignation of Sam Allardyce, having previously coached the Under 21s. He took England to the final of two European Championships in 2020 and 2024 – losing to Italy and Spain respectively – and the 2018 World Cup semi-finals before stepping down.
