Gareth Southgate and Kenny Jackett comparisons made as Portsmouth faithful mock under-fire England manager

Members of the Fratton faithful have been out in force ever since The Three Lions’ showing in Frankfurt which has received widespread critcism ever since. ‘Lethargic’, ‘poor’, ‘desperate’, ‘shambolic’, ‘dismal’ are just some of the general terms that have been used to describe the display that has put serious doubts on England’s chances of winning the tournament outright.

However, well-known for their gallows humour, some Pompey supporters have really went for the jugular by comparing the under-fire Southgate to Kenny Jackett.

Despite enjoying a win percentage rate of 50.71 during his three-and-a-half-season stint at Fratton Park and guiding the Blues to a memorable Checkatrade Trophy final victory against Sunderland at Wembley, the brand of football the former Wolves and Millwall manager produced at PO4 did not sit well with sections of the PO4 regulars. And as Pompey’s promotion hopes continued to falter under Jackett, many turned against the the 62-year-old, who was eventually sacked in March 2021 following the Blues’ defeat to League Two Salford in the delayed 2020 Papa John's Trophy final.

Those concerns are no longer part of the Fratton Park psyche, especiually after John Mousinho guided the club back to the Championship as League One winners last season with a 97-points haul. Yet memories of them clearly came flooding back for those of a Blues persuasion after watching England’s Group B stalemate against Denmark.

Here’s what they had to say on X, formerly Twitter, as many joked whether Southgate had taken any pointers from Jackett pre-match!

@PompeySean75: He actually makes Kenny Jackett look class.

@AlanJCochran: Southgate is aka Kenny Jackett.

@lofc1971: Kenny Jackett is standing and applauding. He loves it.

@NotMiltos: Genuinely need to get a Southgate's England vs Kenny Jackett's Pompey match going, that was abysmal.

@TomRobins08: Better performances have come under Kenny Jackett than that. That was appalling.

@ethelmurmanknee: Like Kenny Jackett display.

@pfc_charlie: Gareth Southgate is a poor man's Kenny Jackett.

@SamuelEMCB: Well gang we have caught Gareth Southgate time to take off the mask.... it was Kenny Jackett all along.

@FrattonFaithful: Gareth Southgate's England 2024 = Kenny Jackett's #Pompey 2020.

@CharlieFarnsba9: Even my cat was laughing at our performance last night, think he had the right idea as watching #England under Southgate is actually worse than when we watched #Pompey under Jackett!

@StevePFC1: Are you Jackett in disguise? #Pompey