GARETH'S GLORY BID

ROBERT J WILSON HOPES THE FOOTBALL GODS SMILE DOWN ON GARETH SOUTHGATE'S ENGLAND THIS SUMMER...

IF THIS summer's European Championships is to be Gareth Southgate's swansong in charge of England, then his legacy should remain intact whatever occurs in Germany.

To his enormous credit, Southgate has made us genuine contenders again. He has successfully managed to alter the culture surrounding the England camp and in the coming months they will be relishing the challenge of finally bringing a trophy back to our shores.

Southgate is one of our most successful national managers in history and should be remembered as such. He may not have crossed that ultimate line (yet) and won something, but England have not been as consistently competitive on the world stage since Sir Alf Ramsey's World Cup winners in 1966.

Under Southgate's excellence in man-management, England have reached a semi-final, a final and quarter-final in the last three major tournaments.

Ramsey's England followed up the '66 triumph on home soil by finishing third at the European Championships two years later. They were beaten at the semi-final stage by Yugoslavia.

Many observers still claim they should have at least reached the World Cup final again in Mexico '70 - if Ramsey had left Bobby Charlton on the pitch in the quarter-final defeat to West Germany.

An ageing Charlton was withdrawn and England saw a 2-0 lead eventually evaporate after 120 exhausting minutes in the stifling heat of the Estadio Leon.

Let's not forget that the holders had earlier seen their captain Bobby Moore jailed for an alleged theft of a bracelet and world-class goalkeeper Gordon Banks miss the reunion with the Germans due to a bout of food poisoning on the eve of the game.

Peter Bonetti deputised and had a game to forget as the Germans fought back.