Gareth Southgate begs fans to stick with England's young guns and forget sorry past
The Three Lions booked their place in Russia in front of an indifferent Wembley crowd on Thursday night, and Southgate is anxious that an admittedly poor performance should not detract from their achievements.
“I want to make a team that the country is proud of,” he said. “I have the opportunity to do something very few people have done in their lives – to lead their country to a World Cup also having played in one. And I am going to take us as far as I possibly can.
“I get what they are feeling about us at the moment, but I also believe in the potential of all these players.”
It took Harry Kane’s 94th-minute goal to see off Slovenia and while Southgate is not shying away from the disappointment, he does sense there is almost an expectation that the current England side will fail because of the experiences of previous generations.
“I go back to us picking up the consequences of decades of disappointment and this group are nowhere near as experienced as most of those teams,” Southgate said. “The hope is that people get behind them and give them a chance.