Gareth Southgate is the man of the moment and will be looking on tonight as his squad go up against Croatia. He’s become famed for his waistcoats and special World Cup watch, as well as the fact he seems like a really good bloke – on and off the pitch. The 47-year-old manager is often referred to as a family man, but what do you know about his family? Does he have children or a wife? We’ve got the information here.
Southgate has been married to wife Alison since July 1997 and they have two teenage children together, Mia (19) and Flynn (15). Alison is 51 years old, and worked in a shop before she met Gareth. He’d spotted her in the shop, but waiting two whole years before asking her out due to being too shy. Some reports state that she even dumped her live-in boyfriend at the time to be with Southgate, who was training for Crystal Palace at the time.
The couple were married in Crawley, and they specifically kept the dates between Euro ’96 and the 1998 World Cup. The Southgates now live in an idyllic converted Yorkshire farmhouse, where friends of the family say Alison does yoga and pilates. Gareth told the Standard in 2017: ‘My kids are 18 and 14, and their development is as important for me as anything else in my life.’ He also wrote in his autobiography that, although his family aren’t too worried about whether his team wins or loses, ‘regardless of the result, it is up to [him] to ensure that no one’s evening is ruined because of things that happened on a football field.’