Ex-Boro boss Southgate favourite to take over …
Stuart Pearce is on the verge of losing his job as head coach of the England Under-21s, according to reports in the Daily Mirror.
The England U21s have just been eliminated from the European Championship in Israel at the group stage, with Pearce’s men having lost all three fixtures during the tournament.
The youngsters were beaten 1-0 by eventual finalists Italy in their opening contest, before more surprisingly going down to defeats against Norway (3-1) and then in their final dead rubber to hosts Israel (1-0).
And so the team exited the competition bottom of their section having picked up no points with no wins, while scoring just the one goal in their three matches, and even that was via a dubiously awarded spot-kick.
As a result, it appears as though The Football Association have now decided that enough is enough and will not offer the former Nottingham Forest and Manchester City manager a new contract to remain in his role beyond the summer.
In total, the 51-year-old has been in charge for 41 games since Feb 2007, winning 23 of those contests to give him an overall win percentage of 56, during which time he guided the U21s to the final of Euro 2009, where they were thrashed 4-0 by Germany.
And already, Gareth Southgate has been installed by Paddy Power as the 1/4 odds-on favourite to replace his one-time England international team-mate in the role next season.
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