Ferdinand, Richards slammed over ‘vapid’ Southgate criticism before England resignation
Rio Ferdinand and Micah Richards have been accused of “vapid” criticism of Gareth Southgate before he announced his England departure.
Southgate was criticised for most of Euro 2024 over team selection and tactics as the Three Lions never seemed convincing throughout the tournament, before announcing his resignation on Tuesday.
Southgate’s conservative tactics saw England progress to the final before falling short in a 2-1 loss to Spain in Berlin on Sunday evening.
And a number of pundits were quick to react with both Ferdinand and Richards questioning whether Southgate is the right man to lead England forward.
Ferdinand said after defeat to Spain: “You have to look at what talent pool we have and I don’t feel like we are putting them in the best position possible. I think the manager has to take some stick for that. The FA have got a big decision to make.”
Former Leicester City and Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill was particularly scathing in his criticism of Ferdinand and Richards’ comments.
“Rio Ferdinand and Micah Richards were on his case the first question that they were asked for the BBC,” commentator Clive Tyldesley said on The Football Authorities podcast.
To which O’Neill then replied: “I don’t understand that. Rio Ferdinand and Micah Richards, with the greatest will in the world, have not managed a game. They’ve not managed, they’ve never been in a managerial spot.”
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And O’Neill accused the pair of “trite comments” that sound “almost like soundbites” and that Southgate should be given more credit for his thought process.
O’Neill said: “This cry that Cole Palmer should have started the game – I have been involved in thousands of substitutions, both good and bad. They’re good when they work, they’re bad when they don’t work – it’s as simple as this here.
“There is a thought process that goes into it, and I think that these people just think that Gareth Southgate just decides at some moment in the game, ‘Oh yeah, do you know what I’ll do? I’ll please everybody, I’ll put a substitution on.’ That’s not the case.
“But these are trite comments, they seriously are. They’re vapid, there’s no question about it. They’re almost like soundbites, as if this is what people want to hear, this idea that somebody should have been on at a certain stage of the game.”
