BBC pundits Rio Ferdinand and Micah Richards have been slammed for ‘trite’ and ‘vapid’ comments about Gareth Southgate, following confirmation the England boss has stepped down.

Southgate announced on Tuesday that he has resigned as Three Lions boss after nearly eight years in charge.

His last game in charge was England’s heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Spain in the Euro 2024 final.

Richards also suggested England had been held back by Southgate’s ‘defensive tactics’.

The pundits have been criticised by former Republic of Ireland boss Martin O’Neill, who branded their comments as ‘vapid’.

O’Neill responded to Clive Tyldesley on The Football Authorities podcast, who stated that ‘Rio Ferdinand and Micah Richards were on his [Southgate’s] case the first question that they were asked for the BBC.’

‘I don’t understand that,’ O’Neill said. Rio Ferdinand and Micah Richards, with the greatest will in the world, have not managed a game. 

‘They’ve not managed, they’ve never been in a managerial spot.’

O’Neill highlighted criticism that Southgate did not start Palmer, after the Chelsea star came off the bench to equalise in the final. 

‘This cry that Cole Palmer should have started the game – I have been involved in thousands of substitutions, both good and bad,’ O’Neill continued.

‘They’re good when they work, they’re bad when they don’t work – it’s as simple as this here.

‘There is a thought process that goes into it, and I think that these people just think that Gareth Southgate just decides at some moment in the game, “Oh yeah, do you know what I’ll do? I’ll please everybody, I’ll put a substitution on.” That’s not the case.

‘But these are trite comments, they seriously are. They’re vapid, there’s no question about it. They’re almost like soundbites, as if this is what people want to hear, this idea that somebody should have been on at a certain stage of the game.’

During his criticism of Southgate, Ferdinand had claimed the England squad were ‘held back on a leash’ during the tournament.

‘We said after the group stages, if you’re going to play the conservative side of things with the amount of talent we have in this squad, you have to win,’ Ferdinand said on the BBC.

‘Otherwise it will come down to it being absolutely dissected and looked at as being a negative approach.

‘That falls on the manager’s toes. He sets this team out in a particular way to play… That’s his style of football and you have to win playing like that because these players are too good.

‘They play too well for their clubs to come here and look a shadow of themselves. We were a team when the game was in the balance — but we were held back on a leash and that’s the disappointing thing with the quality of players we have in this squad.’

Richards added: ‘Because we have a manager who has been successful being defensive, getting into a semi-final of a World Cup and two Euros [finals], and we’ve not been able to push this team forward in the way it deserves.

‘That’s no slight on Gareth Southgate, that’s just his tactics.

‘Now we have to move forward in the right direction and play the football these players play at club level.’

Southgate confirmed in his resignation statement that it was ‘time for a new chapter’ after nearly eight years in the role.  

He was permanently named England manager in November 2016 and guided the Three Lions through four major tournaments, twice leading his side to the European Championship final in 2020 and 2024.