Gareth Southgate - manager and rebuilder of a nation - is exactly the kind of man the FA have been looking for to lead the England team since their last Very Nice Gentleman took an afternoon off to go sightseeing up the Seine with Ray Lewington rather than scouting Iceland.

According to the Daily Mail, Southgate is in line for a contract extension which would end after the Qatar World Cup in December 2022. His contract already runs to the 2020 European Championships, but the FA are understandably keen to lock him down a little longer.

Southgate earned a £350,000 bonus for England's performance at the World Cup, but, as left-back Danny Rose put it to journalists in Russia, it's the way Southgate has turned an embattled, shamefaced Euro 2016 camp into something close to Camp Ivanhoe from Moonrise Kingdom that makes everyone so keen for him to stay.

"That scene at the end was very emotional and I cannot believe I am looking forward to putting an English shirt on again because a few years ago, I did not see that happening," Rose said. "I am not going to lie, it was not enjoyable considering whether we won or lost we’d still get battered, and it has changed over a period of six weeks."

England still have the third-place play-off to play tomorrow afternoon, with Golden Boot race leader Harry Kane declaring himself fit to play despite appearing to be almost immobile by the end of the semi-final against Croatia.