England: FA keen on extending Gareth Southgate's contract

England: FA keen on extending Gareth Southgate's contract
England manager Gareth Southgate has pleased the Football Association with his performances in charge of the national team and he will most likely be offered a contract extension that would see him remain at the helm beyond the European Championship in 2020. Southgate led England to their first World Cup semi-final after 28 years at the 2018 FIFA World Cup this summer and the 47-year-old might also receive interesting offers from Premier League clubs before too long. His last experience in club management was with Middlesbrough and it ended when he got sacked in 2009. "We'd like him to stay beyond 2020," FA chief executive Martin Glenn said. "I think we'd both like that, but if we talked about it at any length it would then be a contract conversation and he's on holiday now - so we'll talk when he comes back." Southgate took charge as a caretaker manager before being offered a four-year contract in November 2016. His annual salary is around 1.8 million pounds, but it could go up to 2.5 million with performance bonuses. His predecessors, Sam Allardyce and Roy Hodgson, had earned around 2.5 million pounds per year, but top Premier League managers like Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho get around 15 million pounds per year. "I want to pay my staff competitively so they are not a flight risk, but I also recognise we are a sports governing body and we're not a Manchester United," Glenn said about the risk of losing Southgate to a Premier League club. "We can never compete with the Premier League in terms of pay - everyone knows that. At some point, Gareth may choose that he wants to try something different and we'll find someone else." However, Glenn was delighted with the team's performance at the World Cup and added that Southgate has further ambitions for the national team: "One of the most powerful things he said after our defeat by Croatia was we haven't done the job. We want to be a top 4 team, one of the best, so it's unfinished business." England are 14/1 at Bet365 to win the 2022 World Cup.
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