Comment: Talk of Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Tuchel and Jurgen Klopp is testament to Gareth Southgate's England legacy

When he took over in late 2016, England were broken, divided, parochial and ridiculed by footballing super-powers on the continent and in South America.

Months earlier, they were the laughing stock of global football after being humiliated by Iceland in Euro 2016.

Perhaps, just as damningly, they looked a bygone relic devoid of identity in a country where the world’s most successful football league operates.

Now, they are harmonised, respected, outward-looking and now longer laughed at, but treated seriously by those at the top table.

A few decades back, money was the major reason why leading European coaches were interested in the England job, let’s be honest.

The sterling work of Southgate has changed all that. Serious names are interested again for the right reasons and it has nothing to do with pound notes. It’s one of the many legacies that the admirable adopted Yorkshireman leaves.

It remains to be seen if someone who was not born on English shores is named as his replacement. Maybe not, but the fact that it will hold significant interest to candidates of the calibre of Maurcio Pochettino and Thomas Tuchel - possibly even Jurgen Klopp, who knows - is testament to what Southgate has achieved.

Klopp, as one article deliciously said on Tuesday, would be 'like Southgate’s cooler, taller, much more successful cousin.'

Southgate may not have ended England’s holy grail in terms of the next cherished major silverware.

That they weren’t even in the ball park before he arrived and just need a home run now is important.

English names figure prominently in the betting, most notably Graham Potter, Eddie Howe and Lee Carsley. A mix of domestic and overseas names should all come under consideration. It’s the sort of due diligence that Southgate would surely concur with.

Potter’s difficult and short-lived tenure at Chelsea is a blot on his copybook. His earlier work at Brighton is what will secure him a decent hearing.

He transformed Albion from a defensively-minded side under Chris Hughton to one of the leading possession-based teams in the Premier League. That they consistently challenged in the top half of the table despite limited resources was all power to his technical and tactical acumen.

At 49, he is neither youthful or seasoned at managerial level and will have been on the FA radar for some while.

Howe, at 46, is in a similar category. His work at Newcastle United has been impressive, but patience will be finite at the top, given that the super-ambitious Tynesiders, backed by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, missed out on Europe last season. The call of England might be opportune.

Carsley is highly regarded for his work with the under-21s, which culminated in him winning the European under-21 Championship last summer.

He is well known to a number of players and is the ‘continuity’ St George’s Park candidate, having previously coached the under-20s and under-19s.

The success of Spain’s Luis de la Fuente also adds weight to the idea of promoting from within.

Within the England question, the talk of bringing in a ‘finisher’ given that Southgate got so close to achieving immortality is also alluring.

In a footballing sense, Pochettino and Klopp are Anglophiles.

The former may be Argentine, but spoke about his passion for the job back in 2017 when he said he’d relish’ the chance to coach England.

Whether Klopp could be lured away from an idyllic semi-retirement in Mallorca remains another question entirely. What is crystal-clear is that the footballing credos of both where the team is ultimately viewed as the star and not the individual fits in perfectly with ‘Club England.’

Both also possess the man-management skills required to preserve the group ethos that Southgate has so carefully constructed.

Back in May, Pochettino’s dismissal at Chelsea was said to have upset many of the club’s younger players. Like Tuchel, he is available and out of work, with Pochettino also close to FA technical director John McDermott from their time at Spurs.

A decision awaits then, but a good decision for England and it’s thanks to Southgate. He took England to two major finals. Not bad when they did not reach one between 1966 and when Southgate took them to Wembley in 2021.

No trophy, granted. That Southgate leaves as England's undeniably most successful modern-day manager and provided light after the darkest hour deserves the gratitude of the nation.