Eddie Howe, Graham Potter, Mauricio Pochettino, and Thomas Tuchel among FA’s ‘leading candidiates’ to potentially succeed Gareth Southgate | OneFootball

According to Matt Law of The Telegraph, Eddie Howe is among the Football Association’s (FA) ‘leading candidates’ to take-over from Gareth Southgate should he step down as England head coach, whilst names such as Graham Potter, Mauricio Pochettino, and Thomas Tuchel are also being highly considered.

Discussion over Southgate’s future was expected in the aftermath of EURO 2024, regardless of the eventual winners, with the Englishman’s contract currently set to expire in December later this year.

However, the current boss, hasn’t written off the idea of signing a new deal with the FA yet, instead expressing his desire to reflect on his tenure, and specifically the most recent final defeat.

In a post-match press conference after that defeat in Munich, Southgate said: “It’s hard to reflect so soon after a defeat like this. I need to have those conversations with important people behind the scenes. Of course to take England to two finals has never been done before. We came here to win and have not been able to do that. England have some fabulous young players, and even the young players have a lot of tournament experience. Many of this squad are going to be around in two, four, six, eight years.”

As for the FA, their Chief Executive Mark Bullingham didn’t mention the future of the managerial position in his statement following the final, but did thank Southgate, his staff, and the players for their ‘commitment and hard work’ throughout the campaign.

Despite the FA not publicly commenting, Sky Sports do report that they are keen on Southgate staying on as manager, but will give him ‘time and space’ to make his decision.

Contingency plans are in place should the 53-year-old decide to not stay on though. As per Law, natives Graham Potter and Eddie Howe are amid the front runners for the job, with the latter in particular being appreciated. As well as Potter’s fellow former Chelsea bosses Mauricio Pochettino and Thomas Tuchel.

The German is said to be interested in managing The Three Lions, whilst Pochettino has long been a ‘serious candidate’ and even spoke on the topic during the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

When asked if he is interested in leading England as manager one day, the 52-year-old replied: “Of course, my relationship with England has always been very good. We have a very good relationship with the academies,trying to develop Young players for the national team.”

If either Tuchel or Pochettino were hired, they would become just the third foreign manager in the men’s national team history, but also the third out of the previous six (excluding Sam Allardyce’s infamous one match in charge).

Although neither Fabio Capello or Sven-Göran Eriksson spells went to plan, there  is evidence with success for England with this foreign manager approach though, shown by England women’s national team coach Sarina Wiegman.

The Dutch women and former Netherlands manager led the Lionesses to the nations’ first World Cup final and major international tournament victory since 1966, with their loss to Spain in 2023  edition of the Women’s World Cup, and their historic Euro 2022 win over Germany at Wembley Stadium,

In the men’s team though, regardless of whether it still be Southgate, another Englishman, an Argentine, or a German as head coach come World Cup 2026 in Central America – or even Euro 2028 in the UK and Ireland – the entire nation will be hoping the new boss can replicate the success of Wiegman and finally bring men’s football home for England.

Travis Levison | Get Football