GARETH Southgate believes all young people should miss a crucial penalty at a major football championship as a learning experience.
The former England manager, speaking at the BBC’s annual Richard Dimbleby lecture, said missing his penalty at Euro 96 made him a stronger and a better man in addition to netting him £40,000 from Pizza Hut.
He continued: “There’s nothing like letting your whole nation down to teach you a lesson in humility, resilience and indefatigability. And there can be no substitute.
“That’s why, as England manager, I arranged for as many young players to miss penalties as I could. Saka, Rashford and Sancho are all better players for it, apart from Rashford and Sancho.
“If it was up to me then every England game would end in penalties and we’d bring on young people who’ve been lost, abandoned and written off in life to take them. They’d miss, become stronger characters as a result and make Britain a better place.
“Because if I’ve learned anything in my life, it’s that success is much more than the final score. Except in football. That’s very much still run on a final score-based system.”
He added: “I turned down managing Manchester United. There is such a thing as too much failure.”
