England fans debate national team manager after Jamie Carragher claims they should 'always' be English

Jamie Carragher has kicked off a debate amongst England fans, claiming the national team manager 'should always be English.'

Gareth Southgate has been in charge of the Three Lions since Sam Allardyce's sacking in 2016, which came not long after the elimination in that year's Euros to Iceland.

In the six years since, he's guided the national team to a semi-final, final and quarter-final in his three major international tournaments in charge, as well as the semis of the Nations League.

It's a vast improvement on the previous 30 years, since the 1990 World Cup semi-final defeat, but last week's loss to France leaves questions about his future, even with two years left on his contract.

Southgate dropped the biggest hint he may quit the job, in the wake of the loss in the quarters in Qatar, referencing the difficulties he's had in the months leading up to the tournament.

Thoughts now turn to who could take over the reins from the 52-year-old, should his time with the team come to a premature end.

Reports have claimed that there's a four man shortlist, which includes former Premier League managers Thomas Tuchel and Mauricio Pochettino.

However, that news has prompted a debate amongst fans about the nationality of the national team manager, with Carragher claiming they 'should always be English.'

Telegraph writer Sam Wallace clearly agreed with the former Liverpool defender, writing that, "the FA using its wealth to sign a big overseas coach is a form of cheating."

Many threw Sarina Wiegman's victory for England in the Women's Euros last summer back at Wallace, who replied, "Wiegman obviously a fine coach but that’s not the way it should go in my view."

"Totally agree, it isn't club football. It should be one countries best against another. If your coaches aren't good enough then tough," one fan said.

Another added, "The thing about health of the nation's football over wealth is spot on. The [Fabio] Capello era was dreadful and [Sven Goran] Eriksson's England never felt right."

Looking at the facts, another reasoned, "I agree. How many countries have won the world cup with a manager not from their country?…..Zero. Maybe coincidence but I don't think so."

"For top nations, I agree. I can see why Iran etc go for foreign coaches to help elevate their standards to a decent level. We should be producing our own," a fourth opined.

Eriksen and Capello are the only non English managers that the national team have had so far, and neither worked out well.

The Swede was at fault for not winning anything with the 'Golden Generation,' whilst the football and mood of the team was dire under the Italian.

Despite that, plenty of other fans were criticising the idea that the England boss should be from these shores.

"This is borderline xenophobic. If you get a good professional, the nationality shouldn’t matter. You should care about winning rather than worrying if the manager will say ‘good evening’ right," one fan argued.

A second simply added, "The England manager should always be able to win big matches."

"Sorry Jamie, but we are not blessed with enough top quality managers to implement this. We should appoint the best person for the job, their nationality is secondary," another surmised.

And another just used the law to argue it, simply adding, "Think that goes against the Equality Act 2010 to be fair."

Plenty made the argument that no Englishman has even won the Premier League, and it's also been said no team in England's top tier would appoint Southgate.

However, it would be difficult to argue that the former centre back hasn't done a good job for the team, even if things could also have gone better.