Gary Lineker tips ex-Chelsea boss to replace Gareth Southgate as next England manager | Football

England beat Switzerland on penalties on Saturday and will now play the Netherlands in the Euro 2024 semi final tie at 8pm this Wednesday.

Southgate, meanwhile, has already indicated that he is unlikely to remain in charge of England after Euro 2024, regardless of whether his side win the tournament.

Graham Potter, who was sacked by Chelsea in April 2023, is the betting favourite to replace Southgate as England manager.

However, Lineker feels Lampard would command instant respect from England’s players and believes the 46-year-old former Chelsea boss is tactically astute.

‘This will be Gareth Southgate’s last tournament,’ Lineker said on The Rest Is Football Podcast.

‘I think, whatever happens. If he wins, I think he’ll absolutely bow out, and if he doesn’t then I think he’ll bow out. It’ll be his decision.

‘But I wouldn’t disregard Frank Lampard. I think he tactically gets it. I think the players will respect him immediately. I’m getting ahead of things here.

‘If you’re going to go English, you go… who else? Eddie Howe? Eddie Howe, possibly?’

Lineker also said of Lampard: ‘I think he’s been a bit unlucky in his managerial career in some ways. I think he gets it tactically.’

Micah Richards also praised Lampard’s managerial career at Derby, Chelsea and Everton.

‘When he went to Derby, I think the feeling was he played really good football, but it should have got them up,’ Richards said.

‘He went to Chelsea [during] the transfer embargo and still managed to get top four, with all the bringing the young players through, [Tammy] Abraham, [Mason] Mount, etc, etc. Then he went to Everton, kept them up.

‘It wasn’t the great style of play but he utilised what he had available to him. He goes, obviously, back to Chelsea. I think that was the one where people were judging him. It can be chaos, Chelsea.’

Richards also hailed Lampard for his analysis for the BBC during England’s win against Switzerland on Saturday.

‘Frank’s analysis was about three minutes. And, normally, if someone goes that deep, after maybe two minutes, you’ve lost interest. But I was glued to it for three minutes. And you can tell he’s just got something,’ Richards said.

‘He’s articulate. The way he explains points. You can tell there’s a manager there inside of him.

‘I’ve really enjoyed working with him [Lampard]. I’ve worked with a lot of people, Thierry Henry, [is] really good analytically, Roberto Martinez, Alan Shearer I thought did brilliantly on co-comms today, Danny Murphy is really good at the tactical side of the game, [Jamie] Carragher is one of my favourites, they are able to explain and break down the game.’

Lineker said of Lampard’s analysis: ‘That three minutes Frank did was amazing.’

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