Arise Sir Gareth Southgate! Sign our petition to give England boss the honour he deserves

MILLIONS of proud football fans want England manager Gareth Southgate knighted for making the Three Lions roar again - win or lose on Sunday night.

YOU CAN SIGN THE PETITION BY CLICKING HERE NOW.

Creating a ‘Sir Gareth’ would be a fitting way to honour a remarkable man who has turned England from perennial underachievers into a fearless force and made the country smile again.

Southgate has dealt remarkably well with all the inevitable criticism that has been thrown at him along the way and still manahed to turn England into ruthless winners.

Fan Phil Norris, from Cheltenham, summed up the mood, saying: “We’ll be toasting Gareth Southgate in our house when the game starts.

“He has taken us to the brink of glory again. Forget all the talk of a bank holiday, just give that man a knighthood win or lose.

“My daughters are only 10 and eight but have now seen England reach the final of two successive European Championships thanks to him.”

Dame Caroline Dinenage MP said: “While we are all glued to Sunday’s mega-match, remember it’s Southgate who got us there. The first men’s team England manager to lead us to two major international finals.

“Like him, our football is not brash or flashy, but there’s no doubting the passion and the dedication he has given our country and our game. For services to sport, and national pride, he deserves the knighthood.”

Greg Smith MP for Mid-Bucks said: “Gareth has definitely rejuvenated the team and if we go ahead to victory a knighthood would be an appropriate reward.”

During eight unblemished years of service the father-of-two’s steely determination and quiet diligence has turned England from a major tournament laughing stock into serial finalists.

The King will watch the 8pm kick off alongside Queen Camilla at home but has begged the team to spare his heart rate.

In a cheery good luck message after Ollie Watkins’ late winner saw off Holland in the semi-final, Charles urged the team to avoid the need for “any last minute wonder-goals or another penalties drama” by winning in normal time to spare the nation’s “collective heart rate and blood pressure”.

Prince William will be cheering on the team from the stands in the Olympiastadion Berlin and is expected to take along his football-mad son George, 10.

Animated William, 42, President of the Football Association, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be seated among 40,000 England supporters inside the stadium itching to witness history in the making.

More than 10,000 England fans without tickets are expected to pack the streets in Berlin ahead of the game to soak up the atmosphere and hopefully join the England party after.

British Airways, Ryanair, and EasyJet laid on extra flights for the game but all seats were snapped up yesterday, while what accommodation remained was on sale for five-times its normal asking price.

The countdown to the final has united the nation like never before.

As the fearless Three Lions stand on the cusp of greatness millions back home have vowed to play their role in the bid for glory by throwing a party like no other.

Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker, who suffered semi-final heartbreak at the 1990 World Cup, spoke for the nation saying: “This is going to be tough, it’s going to be difficult, but they’re on the brink of history. No English team in football has ever won a major tournament abroad.

“They have got that kind of never-say-die attitude, which is something that is hugely important.”

England’s rejuvenation from footballing failures to tournament favourites has been epitomised by Jude Bellingham’s tournament-saving acrobatic equaliser against Slovakia and Watkins’s last-gasp winner against the Dutch with confidence filtering through to those cheering them on across the UK who now genuinely believe.

Hero Watkins, 28, said yesterday: “As much as it makes it more exciting I feel like we don’t care how we win or score, as long as the ball goes in the back of the net.”

He added: “Everyone’s together. It [England’s run to the final] has brought the group together.”

The climax of the tournament, and the manner in which it has been reached by a side on the up, has sparked a feel-good factor not witnessed for years.

And although the weather has been decidedly dreary, this summer could end up being a golden one with the Olympics on the horizon.

A TV viewing audience of nearly 25 million is expected with both BBC and ITV screening the game - beating the 20.3 million who tuned in on ITV for the semi final on Wednesday.

More than half of those tuning in for the big match will do so from home.

Stores have been working around-the-clock to bring in extra supplies in anticipation of a run on supplies snapped up by those hosting parties for friends and family.

Pubs will enjoy a one-off £50 million pay day as fans steady their nerves. And should the result go the right way, late-night licence extensions will see the party continue well into Monday morning which has already been declared an unofficial Bank Holiday with three million workers expected to book leave, or call in sick.

Should Southgate’s heroes finally bring football home the manager and his squad are in line to share a £14 million bounty and be showered with gongs.

A knighthood for a reign that has seen the national side reach the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup, and successive European Championship finals, now surely beckons to add to the OBE handed out in the 2019 New Year’s Honours for services to football.

A team bristling with world-beating talent has led to optimism a major trophy will be won exactly 21,170 days after Bobby Moore lifted the Jules Rimet Trophy at Wembley on July 30, 1966.

Despite a few jitters along the way, England go into the final with Spain - ranked eighth in the world - as slight favourites as they attempt to go one better than Euro 2020, when they lost on penalties to Italy at Wembley Stadium.

Lineker added: “I don’t really think I’m surprised at how we have done it, because we’ve got the individuals, world-class footballers right across the pitch.

“Yes, they started slowly and something wasn’t quite right about things but they’ve worked it out and they’ve got gradually better as the tournament progressed. It’s much better that way round.”

Speaking at the post-match press conference on Wednesday, he chuckled: “We all want to be loved, right?”

“So when you’re doing something for your country and you’re a proud Englishman, and you don’t feel that back and all you read is criticism, it’s so hard. To give our fans a night like this means a lot. We’re kindred spirits in many ways.”

The Express agrees wholeheartedly and says it’s time to give something back to this giant of English sport.