Gareth Southgate took the England men’s football team to two major tournament finals and a semi-final in the space of six years. On paper, this record makes him arguably the team’s most successful ever manager, or at least a close second behind 1966 World Cup winner Sir Alf Ramsey.

Yet Southgate has consistently divided opinion among England fans and former players, many of whom called for him to step down even as he continued to reach the latter stages of the knockouts. After he quit on Tuesday his legacy is under fresh scrutiny. Do his detractors have a point?

One of the chief criticisms of Southgate has been that his teams play ultra-conservative football, suppressing their considerable attacking talents. The response has always been that this is simply what is required to win modern tournaments. The victories of Portugal in Euro 2016 and France in the 2018 World Cup — the models Southgate has sought to follow — were built upon pragmatism over panache.