‘No approach’ was made for top Man Utd managerial target during Ineos review

Manchester United made no official approach to speak to Gareth Southgate during their searched for a potential candidate to replace Erik ten Hag as manager.

The Dutchman ultimately ended up retaining his position at United, although the club reached out to several candidates including Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino, Roberto De Zerbi, Kieran McKenna and Thomas Frank.

Southgate is a manager who has real admirers at Old Trafford and Sir Dave Brailsford and Dan Ashworth are known to be keen supporters of the England manager, although the latter is yet to start his role at the club as he continues his gardening leave.

With Southgate leading England to Euro 2024, an appointment this summer was never feasible, but interest remains in a manager whose contract expires with the FA in December. Despite that, speaking in a recent interview, FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said he received ‘no approaches’ regarding the Three Lions’ boss.

Southgate admitted earlier this week that Euro 2024 could be his ‘last chance’ to win a major tournament with England, while Bullingham said he has a ‘succession plan’ in place for after this summer.

“Any organisation has a succession plan in place for their top employees and we are no different to that,” he revealed. "A succession plan normally includes everything from what you do short-term cover, through to a process you follow, through to a candidate pool.

“That’s really all I want to say on that topic. Just because I want to respect Gareth and the team. They are very focused on the tournament, and we want to be supporting them with that focus. Clearly, you plan lots of different scenarios for all your top employees all the time.

“We are sitting down after the tournament together and will talk about everything,” he added. “Gareth has been really clear that he wants to talk about that after the tournament.

“I would say I think the world of Gareth, I think he has done a phenomenal job. I think he has transformed the fortunes of our team, and that’s not just off the pitch, and you can see the culture, but also the performances on the pitch.”