PLANS for a statue of the England football manager Gareth Southgate could still go ahead.

Crawley Borough Council has not ruled out honouring Gareth Southgate in some way despite England's defeat against Italy.

A petition started during the 2018 World Cup finals came back into the public eye during Euro 2020, leading to an increased demand for a statue of Southgate.

Southgate, who grew up in Crawley, watched on as his team lost out in the final of the tournament on penalties.

The council has said that a statue is not off the table, but it is also open to other ideas from the public.

Peter Lamb, leader of the council, said: "It is being considered. The question is, how much do people think is reasonable to spend on it?

"We have a bust that cost £18,000 just to do the head, and that was done in the last nineties, now we have to deal with inflation, how much will it cost for a full life-size statue.

The Argus: England manager Gareth Southgate. Nick Potts/PAEngland manager Gareth Southgate. Nick Potts/PA

"Also, my big worry about this is that if we commission something like this, I don't want it to look rubbish like that terrible Cristiano Ronaldo one.

"I can already imagine the emails coming in now that say it looks nothing like him.

"What we do want to do is something that recognises that Gareth has made history.

"The town is immensely proud of him. Lots of people here knew him or knew his family.

"There are various ideas at the moment, and we will do something, but it may not be a statue if we can't guarantee that it would look good."

Southgate became the most successful England manager in history during the Euros, in terms of winning more knockout games than anyone else who came before him.