Dear England

Gareth Southgate holds the record as the man who has represented England in more games than anyone else, with 102 matches as men’s senior team manager and 57 as a player - a total of 159 caps. The only manager bar 1966 World Cup-winner Sir Alf Ramsey to lead the England men’s team into a major tournament final, finishing runners-up in Euro 2020 and 2024, he managed England at four major tournaments, also reaching the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and quarter-finals in 2022. In doing so he holds the record for winning more major tournament games than any other England manager in history. He is a former winning club captain with a distinguished playing career spanning over 500 games for Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough, where he was appointed manager in 2006, the youngest in the history of the Premier League at the time. Gareth has won BBC Sports Personality Coach of the Year twice. His role with England inspired the award-winning and sell-out West End play Dear England, the title of which was taken from an open letter he wrote to England fans in The Players’ Tribune during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the 2024 New Year Honours List he was knighted for his services to football and his country. His 2025 BBC Richard Dimbleby Lecture on the challenges facing young people received critical acclaim and provoked a national debate. While having supported numerous charity projects, he is proud to be focused on his work as a Goodwill Ambassador for The King’s Trust, Ambassador for Martin House Children’s Hospice and Patron of Help for Heroes. He has recently become a visiting lecturer at Harvard Business School, where his experiences have formed a case study on leadership.

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