England

Jordan Henderson: 'Gareth Southgate deserves England job'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 16 November 2016

Henderson: 'Southgate deserves England job'

England stand-in captain Jordan Henderson wants to see Gareth Southgate given the managerial job on a permanent basis following his initial four-game trial.

Jordan Henderson has admitted that he and his teammates are hopeful of seeing Gareth Southgate land the England job on a permanent basis.

The 46-year-old has taken on the managerial position on an initial four-game trial, which concluded with a 2-2 draw against Spain at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday night.

Southgate, who stepped up from Under-21s duty to replace ousted boss Sam Allardyce on an interim basis, has been widely tipped to be appointed on a long-term deal by the Football Association following a relatively successful stint in charge.

Speaking after the Three Lions' stalemate with Spain, making it two draws and two wins from the last four, Henderson was quick to put forward the case for Southgate to be given the position full-time.

"When you have asked all the players the question, they have all been very supportive of the manager," he told reporters. "He has been brilliant to work with over this period of time. I think we have progressed in the short space of time he has been here, from the first game to this game, and that is definitely a good sign that we are going in the right direction.

"It is out of our hands now but the players have worked tremendously hard for the manager, and hopefully in the end he will get it and we can keep going in this direction. I think he will be a bit disappointed like we are [by the Spain game].

"We are devastated because we put a lot of work into it. Even though Spain had a lot more possession, I thought we were still in control without the ball. They didn't create many chances apart from the two goals but there are a lot of positives to come out of it."

England are back in action next March when they travel to face Germany in Dortmund, before tackling Lithuania in a World Cup qualifier on home soil four days later.