This article was published before England's semi-final win over Denmark.
Gareth Southgate sits in third place. His 64.4% win rate as England manager puts him behind only the two legends, Sam Allardyce (100) and Fabio Capello (66.7).
All of which shows the statistics surrounding international reigns can be distorted by friendlies, qualifying campaigns and, in Allardyce’s case, one-game reigns.
In the markers that matter, Southgate belongs second only to Sir Alf Ramsey. They are the only managers to take England to two major semi-finals; perhaps Terry Venables would have done had he stayed in charge and Bobby Robson at least threatened to.
But the case for anointing the current Three Lions boss as one of his country’s two greatest is growing.
Southgate the record-breaker
Southgate is accumulating an assortment of achievements.
He has reached England’s first World Cup semi-final for 28 years and their first in the European Championship for 25. When England beat Belgium last year, it was only the second time they had defeated the side then top of the Fifa rankings.
They overcame Germany for the first time in a knockout game in 55 years. The 4-0 win over Ukraine was their biggest in a knockout fixture. They have five clean sheets in one tournament for the first time.
Include penalty shootouts and Southgate has overseen eight tournament victories. The expansion of competitions makes comparisons a little uneven but it puts him level with Ramsey. Sven-Goran Eriksson won seven, Robson five, Roy Hodgson three - all in three tournaments.
Only Eriksson, with 22, had more goals to celebrate than Southgate's (20). Hodgson got just 11.
Defence backbone of knockout success
During his time as England boss, Eriksson excelled at getting out of groups. His immediate successors did not always even do that, but Southgate’s transformative impact is still most apparent in knockout stages.
For five tournaments, from 2008 to 2016, England did not win a knockout match (Steve McClaren’s inability to qualify for Euro 2008 hardly helped while Hodgson’s team were eliminated from the 2014 World Cup before even playing their third group game).
Southgate is up to four victories in knockout encounters. It puts him level with Ramsey though, as the late knight’s wins included a World Cup semi-final and final, they matter more.
But it is notable how few England managers got any: take out Robson (three), Eriksson (two) and Venables (one) and the rest mustered none between them.
In three years, Southgate has got 28 percent of the knockout wins in England’s long history.
England are often compared with Germany but Joachim Low got 12 knockout wins during his reign; had Germany prevailed at Wembley last week and it would have been Low 13 England 12.
Despite France’s unexpectedly early exit from Euro 2020, Didier Deschamps (eight) has twice as many wins as any England manager.
Southgate’s success has been built from the back. His England have three clean sheets in knockout games, equalling Eriksson’s total. Robson and Ramsey both managed two, Venables one. Ron Greenwood merits a mention for shutouts in twin 0-0s in the second group stage in 1982, but only Southgate has got two in quarter-finals.
So far in knockout football, his side have conceded five goals in 600 minutes. Capello’s team conceded four in 90.
Kane joining Southgate in record books
Harry Kane’s brace against Ukraine, meanwhile, took him to four goals in knockout games and past Michael Owen and Bobby Charlton, who both got three. It leaves the current captain behind only Geoff Hurst (five) and Gary Lineker (six).
Kane and Pickford are among the group of players who, against Ukraine, made a sixth appearance in knockout games: Charlton and Bobby Moore’s national record of seven has been equalled by Ashley Cole but, unless Peter Shilton’s appearances in the second group stage in 1982 are included, has not been passed for half a century.
Regardless of Wednesday’s result against Denmark, with the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024 to come, it is very possible that all England’s knockout records – albeit potentially with the significant exception of winning the World Cup – will be held by Southgate and his players.
They are rewriting their country’s history.
Achievements should not be underestimated
Before Southgate, England were only a tournament team in the sense that they were usually at tournaments. The 1994 World Cup and Euro 2008 were the only ones they missed since the 1984 European Championship.
There can be a temptation to think of England as one of Europe’s big five: only five countries from the continent have won the World Cup and they have the five strongest domestic leagues.
Yet in between Euro 96 and the 2018 World Cup, 12 European countries reached the semi-final of at least one major tournament. They included Wales, Greece, Russia, Croatia, Turkey and the Czech Republic, but not England.
Since the first European Championships in 1960, 12 countries have played in a final, but not England. When Southgate took over, Costa Rica and Paraguay had reached a World Cup quarter-final more recently than England.
It is easy to say he had talented players, and he does. But for the first time since Ramsey’s day, England’s talent has taken them to the last four twice in successive tournaments.
And whatever comes next, Southgate has come closer to Ramsey than any of his predecessors.
