|
England under-21 manager Gareth Southgate has extended his contract with the Football Association until 2017. The 44-year-old has been at the Young Lions helm since August 2013, when he replaced former international teammate Stuart Pearce following their exit from the European Championship in Israel. Southgate, who is also head of national teams at the country's football centre St George's Park, has since successfully overseen progress to this summer's finals in the Czech Republic and has now committed to his role for a further year. The former defender is a key figure within the FA's youth development structure, having played an integral role in developing the "England DNA" philosophy and conducting the Youth Development Review. "I am enjoying my work at the FA and with St. George's Park coming to life with innovation and development across our football disciplines I believe we now have some solid foundations in place,'' Southgate said. "England DNA is evolving but anyone who has seen our development teams play -- including the under-21s -- will know that many of the principles can already been seen in the way we go about our work. "Whilst I am certainly happy with the direction we are heading and the progress made so far, we have enormous work ahead of us to raise the level to where we would like to be. It is a big challenge, but an exciting one.'' Southgate had been with the FA as director of elite development between February 2011 and July 2012, only to quit having been earmarked as its technical director. However, the former Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough player returned to the governing body just 13 months later to replace Pearce as England under-21 manager. The job also sees Southgate oversee the coaches with responsibility for the under-20s through to the under-16s, support the FA's contribution to the Elite Player Performance Plan through regular club visits and help develop the FA's tournament strategy. FA technical director Dan Ashworth said: "Gareth is an outstanding individual to work alongside and I am happy to see him commit further to his work with the under-21s and to football development at the FA. "We are looking forward to the European Championship this summer and testing our young players against Europe's elite. "With Gareth in place we will hope to qualify for the 2017 European Championship to continue our players' education and development. "Gareth's close working relationship with Roy Hodgson is certainly helping the transition of our players through to the senior team.''
|
