Gareth Southgate Urges Fans to Give England Time to Improve after Narrow Win Over Slovenia

For the past few years, fans have been upset with the England national team as the Three Lions fail to impress at international level.

Thursday night's 1-0 win against Slovenia simply wasn't enough as most fans booed the players at full time whilst others left before the game ended. 

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After England secured World Cup qualification with Harry Kane's late goal, Gareth Southgate took to the press to tell England fans that his team should not be blamed for years of failure at the world stage, via the Daily Mail.

"The players need the chance to grow and they need the country to get behind them," the England manager said. "We are picking up the consequences of decades of disappointment and this group are nowhere near as experienced as those teams."

Southgate did however accept that in order to gain the fans' support back, England will need to start winning games properly.

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"We have to keep winning football matches. The more we can play football which excites people and score goals, the more we will win people over. We have some good characters and personalities the public don’t necessarily know properly."

The 47-year-old insists that he understand it must be difficult for fans to care about the England squad with the wages they earn but the players he has selected want to succeed with England.

"We’ve tried to be as open as we can be. We’re in an era where it must be difficult for the fans to relate to players because of what they earn. But these are good kids, desperate to play for England."

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When asked about the World Cup, Southgate was unsure about the team's position in the tournament but insisted that he is proud of the players in the current squad.

"You’re always at tournaments to win football matches but you also have to be thinking what is realistic," he said. "I don’t know how far the team can go at the moment. But what I do know is that we’ve got a group of players who I am proud to manage because they want to pull on the England shirt.’"