On the verge of greatness? No, Gareth Southgate is already there - no matter what happens in the Euros final against Spain

After a lacklustre group stage and some tense group stage games, England reached tonight’s final against Spain after Ollie Watkins’ late winner against the Netherlands in the semi-final on Wednesday.

But even though England are unbeaten in the tournament and have reached another final - that’s right ANOTHER final - there are people who still don’t think our Gareth is the right man for the job.

Yes that’s right, our Gareth.

Every four years or so (‘or so’ because of Covid) we highlight the fact that the England gaffer is a ‘former Crawley schoolboy’.

Southgate grew up in the town and went to Hazelwick and Pound Hill Juniors and we like to claim that upbringing somehow has had a big influence on the job he has done as England manager.

Ever since Southgate led England to the World Cup semi-final against Croatia in 2018, we, along with lots of people including the Spotted Crawley Facebook page, called for a statue. Yes it’s hyperbolic, but this man’s achievements need marking.

Whatever you think of the performances, Southgate has not failed in ANY tournament.

He has reached a semi-final, a quarter-final and two finals in his tenure. That’s astonishing.

Ever since my 15-year-old son has been properly invested in major tournaments, he has never known England to fail. In my lifetime I have had to endure tournaments England never even qualified for.

But for some reason, a lot of people don’t see these achievements as good enough - just because the performances aren’t what people want.

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Yes England’s current crop are an exceptional bunch of footballers, and they are more Golden than the ‘Golden Generation’ of Beckam, Gerrard, Rooney et al. But there is a big reason why this squad is so good. That reason? Gareth Southgate.

In 2011, he was appointed as the FA’s head of elite development. When he was appointed he said: “We can't keep producing the English-style player.”

He added: “In a team you need players who are technically good and can perform under pressure.”

This came after the 2010 World Cup where we went out after being truly battered 4-1 by Germany - even despite the travesty of the disallowed Frank Lampard goal.

Southgate has led the way for these players to be as good as they are.

But, again, in some people’s eyes that’s not good enough.

Because of the players we have at our disposal in Germany this summer, people think there is a God-given right for us to play like 1970s Brazil or peak Barcelona. Why?

One team gets to win a tournament and it’s rarely the one who play the best football throughout, or who have the best players. Greece, anyone?

One of our columnists Ian Hart recently wrote an interesting piece about saying ‘anyone who puts Southgate in the same bracket as Sir Alf Ramsay, Sir Bobby Robson or Terry Venables are delusional’. A World Cup win (1966), one World Cup semi-final (1990) and one Euros semi-final (1996) between them are great achievements and gave us memories of a lifetime.

But do you remember England’s journey to the semis in World Cup 90? Scrapped through the group stage, needed a last-minute winner against Belgium by David Platt and were nearly stunned by Cameroon in the last 16 after hugely underestimating them. It wasn’t comfortable viewing.

That’s not to say either Robson or Venables wouldn’t have done a great job with these players, but football is very different now. If Southgate had gone out and played the expansive football everyone wants, it’s my belief England would not have reached the final. That’s easy for me to say, but Switzerland were one of the best teams in the tournament when we played them. Yes we only got through on penalties, but if we we were open and attacking, it’s my belief they would have just picked us off and we would would have been out.

All people want to see is England lift a trophy. Does it really matter how we get there?

If England go out and beat Spain at a canter, what happened in in the previous six games will become a distant memory.

There will probably be people who will still say ‘but look at the teams we played against’ or ‘we got lucky with that penalty against The Netherlands’, or ‘if it wasn’t for that Bellingham overhead kick’. But those people will be the ones who can’t accept they are wrong.

There’s no luck involved in what has happened, it’s all been building to tonight’s final against Spain.

In my opinion, our Gareth has played this tournament perfectly and he deserves so much credit for the way he has handled this team and the way he acted amid such vitriolic criticism. When fans were throwing bottles at him and his side, he dealt with it with such integrity and calmness.

But it’s not just on the pitch, off the pitch he has changed the culture of the England side and, in a way, changed the culture of a nation.

I saw a headline in the last couple of days - ‘Is Gareth Southgate on the verge of greatness?’. My answer to that is no. No, because he is already there. Beating Spain will just be the cherry on top of what has been an astonishing career as England manager.

To misquote Gary Neville: ‘Where do you want your statue Gareth Southgate?’.