McAllister cannot see Klopp or Guardiola succeeding Southgate

Gary McAllister finds it hard to believe that either Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola will succeed Gareth Southgate as England manager.

Southgate, who led England to back-to-back European Championship finals, ended his eight-year tenure following their defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 showpiece.

The 53-year-old was often accused of a cautious approach despite only Walter Winterbottom (383) and Alf Ramsey (224) overseeing more England goals than his 213, with supporters wanting to see a more attack-minded manager take over.

And two of the names linked with the vacant position have been pioneers of Premier League football in recent years.

Jürgen Klopp Pep Guardiola pic.twitter.com/2bmrjP4nAI

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) March 10, 2024

Klopp ended his nine-year stay at Liverpool in May to take a break from management, while some expect Guardiola to leave Manchester City at the end of his current deal, which expires next year.

The pair have won 653 games between them and shared 25 major honours during their time in England and could be seen as the ideal candidates to end the Three Lions’ 58-year wait for silverware.

However, former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder McAllister believes Klopp and Guardiola are unlikely to become England’s next manager.

McAllister, who played 57 times for his nation, believes supporters would prefer an English manager at the helm.

“I think people are linking Jurgen with the England job purely because he has experience working in the English Premier League,” McAllister told Stats Perform.

“He’s worked with elite players for many years now at Dortmund and at Liverpool. So people are putting two and two together.

“Personally, I don’t see it happening and I think I also see that there were links to Pep Guardiola and I don’t see Pep managing England either.

“It’s hard for me to comment on this because I’m obviously not English, I’m Scottish.

“The people I speak to within the game, there is a feeling that the manager of England should come from St George’s Park, which is the headquarters of English football, the FA and all the coaching programmes that they have there.

“Why would you have all this and then put a manager not from England in? I think most of the people in England are looking for an English manager.”

The Three Lions’ next game is a Nations League clash with the Republic of Ireland in September, with Finland their next opponents three days later.