Jude Bellingham makes feelings clear on Gareth Southgate after England heartbreak

Gareth Southgate’s future as England boss is up in the air of their 2-1 loss to Spain in the final of Euro 2024 and Jude Bellingham has made his feelings clear about the manager

Jude Bellingham has “nothing but respect” for manager Gareth Southgate following England’s heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Spain in the final of Euro 2024.

Nico Williams gave Spain the lead, before Cole Palmer came off the bench to score an equaliser for England. However, a late goal from Mikel Oyarzabal earned Spain the victory and Southgate now has a decision to make about his future.

When quizzed immediately after the game by ITV, Southgate insisted: “I don’t think now is a good time to make a decision like that.” And Bellingham has given Southgate his backing, stating he will “always have my respect and my love” no matter what the future holds.

“For me, it’s down to the manager and what the FA decide,” Bellingham said when asked about Southgate. “I’ve got nothing but respect for Gareth giving me my debut in the squad, made me feel very at home.

“He is someone who, I think, in the last year or two as well, our relationship’s kind of gone a little bit past football, where I feel like I can open up to him a lot and I think that speaks volumes of the kind of man he is as well.

“Whatever happens with Gareth, I’ll always respect him. If he stays, then I’ll be even more determined to win something for him because he deserves it. Sometimes the numbers and the kind of statistics, the records don’t lie, he’s been our most successful manager since 1966.

“So whatever he decides, he will always have my respect and my love.” Reflecting on the tournament as a whole, Bellingham insisted a first major tournament win since 1966 “is coming” for England.

Jude Bellingham has hailed England boss Gareth Southgate ( 
Image:
ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)
“It’s really disappointing because at some point we do have to deliver, but there are experiences and there’s things we can take from this tournament going forward,” he added. “I suppose if you look at everything negatively, nothing will ever change.

“So it’s important we pick the positives and the negatives together and find a way to one day get England over the line. I came here to win. We came here to win. Like I said, there’s experiences that we can take going into the next one.

“So I suppose you could say that’s kind of some solace. It’s one of those where you probably need a bit more time to digest it and analyse it, and we’ll do that as a team, individually, look over how it went and bounce back. It’s a young team with a lot of potential and I know people be frustrated that we haven’t delivered yet, but I definitely feel that it is coming.”