IT WAS a badly kept secret. The kind of secret where you hope it doesn’t leak but within minutes, people are telling you the secret which you started.

Gareth Southgate was always going to be named England manager after Sam Allardyce was relieved of his duties.

The four games he was in charge for as interim manager weren’t trick games, the Scotland tie at Wembley was a potential hiccup but Gordon Strachan didn’t really pose a threat to England.