A STUDENT from South Harting got to meet Gareth Southgate as part of his football journalism course at Derby University.

Southgate, who is likely to be appointed permanent England manager by the FA after next week’s friendly against Spain, came to speak to the students as a guest lecturer and Marc Walker, a former Petersfield School and Alton College student, was able to write a news story as part of that visit.

The 20-year-old began the UK’s first football journalism course in September. “It was fascinating listening to what Gareth had to say,” he said. “He told us about the techniques he uses in management and his experiences as a player. He was really down to earth and genuinely seemed to want to tell us as much as possible.”

Marc Walker writes, England caretaker manager Gareth Southgate says he had concerns about the experience of the England squad before Euro 2016.

The 46-year-old, in charge of the team following the sacking of Sam Allardyce, said he felt the lack of players who had played in high-pressure matches may have been a factor in failure at the tournament.

He said: “One of the concerns I had with the team going into the summer was that, if you looked at that squad, there wasn’t a lot of big-match experience.”

“If you look at Spain and Germany, their guys have huge international experience, but also every year they’re challenging for the league, challenging in the Champions League.”

“Some of the understanding of how to deal with that can only come through experience.”

With 57 caps for the national team and a successful spell in charge of the U21 side, Southgate was the obvious candidate to steady the ship after a turbulent time for the FA. He has taken steps to change his side’s fortunes.

After a comfortable win against Malta, Southgate dropped Wayne Rooney ahead of the draw in Slovenia and has also introduced psychological techniques he used when managing the U21s.

“Feedback is really important for players and they value one-on-one discussion. We want to get people to focus on processes rather, because what are the things that you can control?”

He also highlighted the use of different players at press conferences and the way that helps them develop.

“Again with the U21s, we tried to develop as many leaders as possible and that involved giving them as much responsibility as we could.”

“If we’re not giving them responsibility off the field on a day-to-day basis, it’s very difficult for them to step up and do it in a game.”

Southgate will hope to integrate some of his Toulon tournament winning side into the senior squad if he is given the job full time and he has ideas on how the senior team can gain success in the near future with a young side.

“You can go to a European Championships and scramble your way through. Greece and Portugal have done that and found a different way to win.”

“Maybe that’s what we will have to do to have success in the immediate term.”