Gareth Southgate knighthood: Former England boss joins list of football greats as he becomes Sir Gareth

On the list of football manager knights, only Winterbottom and Southgate have not won a trophy in their managerial career.

Southgate fell short of being the winner England and the Football Association wanted as they tried to end a barren sequence for the men's senior team stretching back to the 1966 World Cup triumph.

But along the way, Southgate did much to restore the image of his squad and the game.

England lost successive European Championship finals, to Spain in 2024 and to Italy at Wembley in 2021.

They were also beaten in a World Cup semi-final by Croatia in Moscow in 2018, meaning Southgate's reign will ultimately be judged as that of a nearly manager of a nearly team.

This may be regarded as a harsh judgement, but reality shows that Southgate could not overcome the obstacles to that elusive England success with a richly talented squad, as well as in circumstances that favoured them, such as against Italy in a home final.

Legacies can be built on the finest of margins, and this was Southgate's.

In the wider context, however, that record stands comparison to – and indeed improves upon – that of any of his predecessors following Sir Alf's World Cup win.

The knighthood accolade is reward for the exemplary manner in which he served England and the Football Association on so many levels: as a distinguished full international, coach of the under-21s, then as senior team manager when he succeeded Sam Allardyce, who left after one game, in late 2016.

He inherited chaos and almost turned it into silver.

When measured in honours, Southgate's career may not be able to stand alongside those other names who claimed the game's biggest prizes - as a player he won the League Cup with Aston Villa in 1996 and again when he captained Middlesbrough in 2004 - but his significance and influence in the recent era is unquestionable.

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