Ciaran Varley

BBC Sport Journalist

Gareth Southgate has told BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs that he made his decision to leave his job as England manager before the end of Euro 2024.

The 54-year-old, who is a guest on the latest episode of the long-running programme, chose Adele’s Someone Like You as one of the eight songs he would take with him if cast away to a desert island, explaining to presenter Lauren Laverne that he “kept playing it towards the end of the last Euros” because “I knew I was going to be leaving”.

Southgate resigned as manager in July, two days after England were beaten 2-1 by Spain in the Euro 2024 final.

However, he revealed that he had already decided before the final that it was, “time for change on all sides”.

Speaking about the Adele track, Southgate said: “There were so many of the words in it that, even if I hear it today, it relates to my relationship with England.”

The song, which appears on Adele’s 2011 album 21, is written from the point of view of a woman addressing her ex-partner.

“They’ve got to move on and you wish them the best and there are regrets, but there were actually memories that were made,” Southgate explained.

The former midfielder and defender managed his country for 102 games in eight years in charge and is the only manager bar 1966 World Cup winner Sir Alf Ramsey to lead the England men’s team into a major tournament final, which he did twice – at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024.

He told Desert Island Discs that he is “not against” doing something “totally different” and that his next career move “doesn’t have to be within coaching”.

“When you’re a coach and you’ve had one of the biggest jobs, how do you follow that up?” said Southgate.

Southgate’s sixth desert island track was Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, featuring Stormzy, which was released in 2017.

He called both Sheeran and Stormzy “amazing” British artists, adding: “To see young people like these two able to be worldwide superstars is brilliant to watch.”

Southgate also explained that Sheeran performed for the squad during both of the past two Euros, including in 2021 when some Covid restrictions were still in place.

He revealed that midfielder Mason Mount and defender Ben Chilwell had to watch the performance from their hotel rooms after being ordered to isolate because they had “been in the tunnel for too long with another player”.

Southgate’s fourth choice was The Whole of The Moon by The Waterboys, released in 1985.

He said that the track reminds him of pre-season tours in Portugal with Crystal Palace, whom he captained to the 1993-94 First Division championship after being named captain, aged just 23.

“There was a bar that we used to go in and at the end of the night, the band would play this track,” Southgate said, explaining that the team would habitually stay until the end so that they could join in.

“Lads who played with me in that era would recognise this song from that period of our early 20s.”

Southgate started out as an apprentice at Palace, earning £27.50 a week, “plus your travel expenses,” after being let go by Southampton aged 13.

He said that he is not “bitter” about his rejection by the Saints, but added: “I’ve still got the letter at home, tucked away in a drawer.”

After Manchester United sacked Erik ten Hag in October, Southgate was linked with the managerial job before Ruben Amorim was hired.

He explained why he began supporting United as a youngster, despite being born in Watford, because his father Clive’s job in building services took the family around the country.

“We moved to Lancashire when I was very young – Bury, which is where I started supporting Manchester United because they were fairly local,” Southgate said.

His football heroes were Bryan Robson, who captained United between 1982-94, winning eight major trophies in 12 years, and Steve Coppell, who played on the wing for United between 1975-83.

Coppell went on to become Southgate’s first manager at Palace, when he joined the senior team in 1989.

“Even when I meet him now, 30 years on, I’m still a little bit in awe of him, still feel I should call him ‘boss’,” said Southgate.

Southgate said that this early nomadic life, which also took him to Portsmouth and Crawley, helped him in his later football career.

He said: “Generally speaking, I’m a bit more of an introvert, but I got used to having to make connections with people and I think when I played football and joined new teams and moved clubs, I wasn’t worried about just sticking with one or two friends, I was able to cross over dressing rooms.”

Alongside selecting eight different tracks, Southgate was allowed to choose a book and a luxury item.

As his luxury item, he selected a coffee machine, saying that he had become a “coffee snob” recently.

Southgate also chose The Chimp Paradox by psychiatrist Professor Steve Peters, who has worked with a number of elite athletes, including British Cycling, snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan and both Liverpool and England football teams.

Southgate described Peters’ work as “a brilliantly simple way of explaining why we react in the way we do at certain moments”.

He also revealed that he is in a book club with other dads from his daughter’s former school and that they have read 40-50 works of classic fiction, including JD Salinger’s The Catcher in The Rye, Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca and Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach.

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