What former England managers did next after major tournament disappointment

Dec 12, 2022 3 min read
Bobby Robson, Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello (PA)
Bobby Robson, Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello (PA)

Gareth Southgate is considering his future as England manager after their quarter-final exit at the hands of France at the World Cup.

Here, Football Mad looks back at what his predecessors did after major tournaments.

Bobby Robson

Bobby Robson left the England job after Italia 90
Bobby Robson left the England job after Italia 90 (PA)

The popular former Ipswich manager offered to resign after successive European Championship failures and was told by the Football Association before the 1990 World Cup, his second, that his contract would not be renewed. After guiding England to the semi-finals he moved to PSV Eindhoven. Robson notably had a spell in charge at Barcelona in 1996–97.

Graham Taylor

England Manager – Graham Taylor – Park Court Hotel, London.
Graham Taylor had a tough time with the media (PA)

Taylor had enjoyed success at Watford and Aston Villa before succeeding Robson in 1990. His England side qualified for the 1992 European Championship but were knocked out in the group stages. The much-criticised Taylor resigned in November 1993 after the team failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup.

Terry Venables

Eng Venables press conf 1
Terry Venables led England at Euro 96 (PA)

Appointed in 1994, former Barcelona and Tottenham boss Venables led England to the semi-finals of Euro 96 on home soil. But he had already decided to step down afterwards and Glenn Hoddle was even announced as his successor before the tournament.

Glenn Hoddle

Hoddle unhappy, England defeat
Glenn Hoddle’s time in charge ended prematurely (Adam Butler/PA)

Hoddle led England to the second round of the 1998 World Cup, where they lost to Argentina on penalties. He was due to continue through to Euro 2000 but comments the former Tottenham midfielder made in a newspaper interview led to his downfall in February 1999.

Kevin Keegan

Wembley Eng v Ger Keegan
Kevin Keegan quit at a rain-soaked Wembley (Rui Vieira/PA)

Keegan guided England to Euro 2000 via a play-off win against Scotland but they failed to get out of the group stage. The former England skipper stayed on despite that disappointment but resigned after a World Cup qualifying defeat by Germany at Wembley later that year.

Sven-Goran Eriksson

Soccer – David Beckham Filers
There was penalty pain for Sven-Goran Eriksson and David Beckham (PA Archive/PA)

England’s first foreign manager led the team to three successive quarter-finals at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, as well as Euro 2004. But off-field issues had begun to creep in and the FA announced in January 2006 that the Swede would leave after the World Cup.

Fabio Capello

Fabio Capello Resignation
Fabio Capello resigned before the 2012 Euros (Steve Parsons/PA)

The Italian succeeded Steve McClaren after England’s failure to qualify for Euro 2008 and led then to the last 16 at the World Cup two years later, where they were beaten 4-1 by Germany. The FA nevertheless announced Capello was staying, but he resigned in February 2012 after John Terry was stripped of the national captaincy.

Roy Hodgson

England v Iceland – UEFA Euro 2016 – Round of 16 – Stade de Nice
Iceland proved to be Roy Hodgson’s undoing (Owen Humphreys/PA)

West Brom boss Hodgson was next in the hotseat and after an encouraging performance at Euro 2012, ended on penalties by Italy in the quarter-finals, hopes were high at the 2014 World Cup. After England exited in the group stage Hodgson insisted he had no intention of resigning, but he left when his contract expired following the humiliating defeat by Iceland at Euro 2016.

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