Gareth Southgate reshuffles England backroom staff

Gareth Southgate has remodelled his backroom staff following last year’s World Cup finals with the departure of a key figure around the senior England team – performance psychologist Ian Mitchell, as well as coach Chris Powell.

The departure of Mitchell, who arrived to some fanfare in Feb 2018 having worked with the Football Association of Wales and its senior team in their progress to the Euro 2016 semi-finals, is a significant change. Southgate has also parted with coach Chris Powell, a senior figure at Tottenham Hotspur’s academy, who has been part of the England team staff since 2019.

On Thursday, Southgate will name his first England squad since the end of the Qatar World Cup in December as a new cycle starts for Euro 2024 with qualifiers against Italy a week on Thursday and Ukraine three days later. The partnership of Southgate and Steve Holland at the heart of the Southgate years remains intact and the pair are now embarking on their fourth tournament cycle.

There are to be changes elsewhere with others in the performance psychology department, in addition to Mitchell, also expected to depart the FA. After his initial FA appointment in 2018, Mitchell eventually succeeded Pippa Grange as the head of performance psychology in 2019, a high-profile position with a brief to develop all England teams.

Southgate has put particular emphasis on developing a strong culture around the senior team, which permits players to relax in tournaments and handle the pressure that had often caused their predecessors to fail. Much thought has gone into the team base at each of the last four tournaments and also stress-free access for players’ families.

Mitchell will leave having played a major role in three tournaments in which England reached a semi-final, final and quarter-final – the national team’s best run since 1966.

Powell joined the England staff as part of the FA and Professional Footballers’ Association elite placement scheme aimed at increasing coaching diversity. He has not had his contract renewed. Southgate has made changes in the past between tournaments. Graeme Jones, brought in for Euro 2020 after striker coach Allan Russell was obliged to step down, was not retained after that tournament.

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The former Holland striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink is a contender to replace Powell. A friend of Southgate from their days together at Middlesbrough, the 50-year-old won 23 caps and played for Chelsea, Leeds United, Boro and others during a decade as a player in English football. He has managed at Burton Albion twice, Queens Park Rangers and Northampton Town, and is currently a Sky Sports pundit.

The squad Southgate names on Thursday will involve some key decisions. Mason Mount has not played for Chelsea since Feb 26 but is expected to be back fit soon. Raheem Sterling has also been injured. Ben Chilwell and Reece James, who missed the World Cup with injury, are back in contention.

There is a big decision to be made over Harry Maguire, who has started just one Premier League game since England’s quarter-final defeat to France in Qatar on Dec 10. Fikayo Tomori and Morgan Gibbs-White are contenders to be picked. It remains to be seen what stance Southgate takes on Ivan Toney, the Brentford striker with 15 Premier League goals – currently third in the goalscorers’ table this season. He also has 262 charges against him from the FA over alleged breaches of player gambling regulations.