I Love Football - Gareth Southgate

 

Gareth Southgate says football is a sport he loves but the interim England manager admits there are aspects of the football industry he does not like. The 46years old says there are many different areas of the industry he does particularly like, but the chance to improve the country's best is his only focus.

He said “I have to say I'm involved in a sport that I love and an industry that at times I don't like, the detail of what happened last week, I'm not too au fait with. I've heard names mentioned and bits of information but I don't have the detail so I don't think I can speculate about what might or might not have happened. I started kicking a ball around with my dad and my granddad and my one aim was to play for England at Wembley, I fulfilled that dream. I love the sport, I love watching it, I love taking part in it, so to be manager of my country, having played for my country as many times as I did, then I feel it is an honour and privilege and I am really looking forward to it. That is sport at its purest form. It's what I love. Not just football. That challenge, having to go across the white line and put yourself on the block. That is what it is always about. I'm always drawn to the Theodore Roosevelt quote. At times you have got to step forward and you have got to take a risk. You have got to put yourself in that situation. To be in that position is a privilege.”

Southgate is keen to now move away from the background noise of the past week and avoided expanding on the aspects of football he does not like, preferring to focus on getting the team ready for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovenia.