Gareth Southgate set for huge career change as global firm bids to sign him after he quit as England boss [Video]

Gareth Southgate claimed that only winning Sunday’s final would earn England the respect of the footballing world.

Spain proved a last-gasp comeback too far in Berlin, but defeat did not change the fact that Southgate’s eight-year transformation put respect back into the world of England football.

Critics will pick apart his cautious tactics, his selection choices and his record in the most high-pressurised games – with some legitimacy.

Yet what is quickly forgotten is the laughing stock our national side had become before he took over in 2016.

A shambolic Euros exit to Iceland that summer had been followed up by Sam Allardyce quitting just one game into his tenure thanks to his pint of wine with undercover reporters.

Then came Southgate, with his decency, his humility, his understated eloquence and his vision for a better, different future.

He had analysed why England had so often failed in the past, …