sport news World Cup: Gareth Southgate has made the impossible look possible and England ... trends now

We were talking relevance. How the impossible job became one that Mauricio Pochettino or Thomas Tuchel would walk into, gladly, tomorrow.

How a team that, six years ago, appeared to have hit rock bottom was rehabilitated into one of the strongest in tournament football. And because Gareth Southgate is not a conventional England manager in so many ways, he came at the subject from an entirely original angle.

'I remember during the Black Lives Matter protests, there was a fantastic comedian who said 'all we're asking is that we matter, nothing more',' Southgate recalled. 'And maybe we've made the impossible just look possible, that would be the analogy. Maybe we've made it look exciting for other people and I can understand that.'

And because nothing moves swifter than the rush to judgment in modern times, Southgate's employers were very nervous that his words might be misinterpreted, that he could be accused of trivialising a serious matter. 

So for the record, Southgate was not saying that managing England was life or death, or drawing comparisons between a game and a global protest movement rising from death and righteous anger. He knows what matters. He knows where his role resides. But relevance, yes, he understands that.

In his sphere of influence he has changed perceptions, he has made the wider world look differently at England's team and at his position as their coach. Would Pochettino, Tuchel, or their contemporaries, have coveted the England manager's job when Southgate took charge in 2016?

Think of the leading foreign coaches in and around English football at the time: Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Arsene Wenger, Louis van Gaal, Antonio Conte, Ronald Koeman, Pochettino. Were they jostling for an interview when Sam Allardyce stepped away?

England had just exited a tournament to Iceland. The reason the Football Association promoted Southgate was that they did not have too many options beyond. Since, he helped put together two of the most credible tournament performances in English football history. His peers now look at his squad and fancy their chances.

Some will argue that reflects poorly on Southgate. That the reason Pochettino or Tuchel would take the national role is they believe it can be done better.

If so, it will not be easy. No England manager had reached a European Championship final, and only one predecessor got as far as Southgate did in a World Cup on foreign soil. 

So, while his successor will be thinking, one more win and sainthood awaits, equally, Southgate would have every reason to ask them: where were you when we were s***?

Meaning even if he found a unique way of explaining it — Kevin Hart is not a traditional reference point for England managers, and he also slipped in a little French by using the phrase 'plus ca change' with reference to the rise in expectations — Southgate knows what he has done.

If this is his farewell tournament, as many suspect, he leaves England in a much better place than he found it. There is a united spirit, a production line of promising young players, and an older group of significant experience. It is a good job now and Southgate has made it so. 

'We want England to be competitive for years to come and I believe that our academy system has done that,' he added.

Yet it isn't just the relevance of the national team that is at stake when England's World Cup begins in Al Rayyan on Monday. This is a World Cup beset with image problems. 

The FA confirm only 3,000 members of the England travel club will be coming to Qatar, which is the minimum allocation for away fans in a Premier League stadium with a capacity of 30,000 or more.

Back home, vendors report a quieter time than usual. There is a distinct absence of St George

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