A new England boss must put Jude Bellingham in his place – and three other things that must happen before the Three Lions finally lift trophy, writes IAN LADYMAN

A few years ago, Gary Neville spoke to Mail Sport about what it was like playing for England.

“It can be difficult and scary,” said the former England defender.

“The media, the pressure. It was intimidating and there were times when it was hard to enjoy it.”

Neville is not the type to be put off by much, but that was the old England. That was the England of managers like Sven Goran Eriksson, Fabio Capello and even, a decade later, Roy Hodgson. A bad environment and sometimes even worse results.

But now we are here – on day one of England after Southgate – and it is very different and much better and one of the main tasks of his successor will be to make sure we move forward in that regard and not go back to the terrible mess of fear, club rivalry and mistrust.

He will step down from his role after leading the Three Lions to two European Championship finals

Southgate (right), who has not been to everyone’s taste over the past eight years and did not play his best tournaments at Euro 2024, will nevertheless leave the post with his head held high

Southgate has not been to everyone’s taste over the past eight years and it is true that he did not play his best tournament at Euro 2024. Despite England’s breakthrough to the final, there was ample evidence in four weeks in Germany that his own race was all but over.

Southgate’s England, however, has always felt right, in terms of environment and culture, and that shift towards modernity is one of its greatest achievements, alongside a run to two major finals, our country’s first since 1966. It must be protected and nurtured at all costs, or we will be lost again.

In addition, the new England coach will face challenges that Southgate and many of his predecessors have also experienced.

How does he produce an England team that is at least equal to – or even greater than – the sum of its talented parts? How does he overcome a traditional English problem of players arriving on the cusp of summer tournaments already in need of a holiday?

After Sunday’s defeat to Spain in Berlin, Southgate finally came clean about his players’ poor physical condition. He almost took Jude Bellingham off the pitch, he said, because the 21-year-old was suffering from cramp. It was a remarkable and telling statement.

In the England camp, Southgate’s players have been talking openly about it over the past four weeks. How exhausted they felt. How many games they had played in the past few years.

Southgate’s players spoke openly about how exhausted they felt after the heartbreaking final

The 53-year-old manager had lobbied for a winter break in the Premier League during his time as manager

Players like Phil Foden (left), Kyle Walker (second left) and John Stones (third left) will not have had a proper break from football in almost three years ahead of the 2026 World Cup in America.

Southgate lobbied hard for a Premier League winter break when he was in charge, but when it came he saw it for what it was, a gesture and nothing more. Last season, for example, some clubs got a few weeks off in January, but those with FA Cup replays and the like did not. No wonder Southgate secretly laughed it off.

At a time when the domestic football calendar seems increasingly full, Southgate’s successor needs to lobby the Premier League and indeed its leading clubs for some common sense and understanding. Good luck with that. The best English clubs will be playing in an expanded version of the Champions League this coming autumn and winter, while Manchester City and Chelsea will be competing in the Club World Cup in America next summer. This effectively means that players such as Phil Foden, John Stones, Kyle Walker and, as things stand, Conor Gallagher and Cole Palmer will be going into the 2026 World Cup without having had a proper break from football for three years. Seen in that context, the problem is clear.

Southgate’s replacement will also need to bring some elite coaching to the table. Southgate’s strengths lie in communication, individual player management and culture. Candidates to replace him, such as Eddie Howe and Graham Potter, are coaches first and managers second. As hard as it is to say, Southgate was somewhat outshone in Germany by rivals such as Spain’s Luis de la Fuente, Germany’s Julian Nagelsmann and even Austria’s Ralf Rangnick. This was particularly the case in terms of in-game changes and substitutions. England need a proactive, brave and innovative coach this time around and there is every chance they will get that.

The FA’s list of five candidates to replace Southgate, which includes Graham Potter (right) and Newcastle manager Eddie Howe (left), is made up first of coaches and second of managers.

A new England manager faces the challenge of accepting that Jude Bellingham (pictured) is a special player, but must understand that his attitude must be the same as everyone else’s.

The superstar (right) is already a Champions League and LaLiga winner after his superb first season at Real Madrid – and is arguably England’s most talented player in a generation

The challenge for him, moreover, is to take a talented group of English players to the next level. The search for a natural partnership at the base of England’s midfield will continue – Declan Rice had three different partners in seven Euro 2017 games in Germany – but elsewhere there is an ever-deepening well of attacking talent and in the middle there is Bellingham.

The Real Madrid star is already a Champions League and La Liga winner and arguably our most talented player of a generation. However, Bellingham underperformed in Germany this summer and went on hiatus this week, with some of his team-mates wondering whether so much success so early has changed him a little.

It was instructive to watch Bellingham bare his soul to the Spanish media after the final on Sunday and then walk past the English press as he always does without fail. He is the only English player to do so. A new manager will face the challenge of accepting that Bellingham is a very special player, but also making sure he understands that in terms of behaviour and attitude on and off the pitch, he is just like everyone else.

Bellingham is a young man and it is understandable that there are some rough edges that need to be ironed out. That will have to happen, and it will have to happen before the next World Cup. This was essentially a six-week training camp, but the World Cup will be a week longer and the journey will be tougher. By the time we get there, Southgate’s successor will need to have put his best player in a position where he can benefit his team in every way. In Germany, despite his praise for Bellingham, that was not a happy place that Southgate managed to find.

Southgate (pictured) is retiring from England after almost eight years as their manager

His team never quite reached the top of the mountain and could not end England’s 58-year trophy drought, but the challenge for the man who succeeds him could not be clearer

The 53-year-old stayed for 102 games and the best part of eight years. It was a few innings with England and what it means and what it feels like to play for your country has been elevated to a level perhaps not seen since the Terry Venables era of 1996.

Southgate’s England, however, have never made it to the top of the mountain. The challenge for the man who walks through the door behind him could not be clearer.