England U21: Aidy Boothroyd head coach leaves after disappointing European U21 Championship exit

Aidy Boothroyd is leaving his role as England Under-21 manager, the Football Association has declared.

 

The 50-year-old’s future had been in question after the Youthful Lions’ early exit from Euro 2021 and his contract was due to run out within the summer. Boothroyd guided the Youthful Lions to three European Championships – coming to the semi-finals in 2017 – after succeeding Gareth Southgate in 2016.

England lost two of their three fixtures last month and crashed out in the group stages of the tournament.

Boothroyd said: “It’s been the greatest privilege to represent the FA and lead England teams into high-profile tournaments.

“While we didn’t finish in the way we wanted, I’m very proud to have been able to work so closely with players who I know will go on to have remarkable international careers and to have experienced some very special moments with them over the years.

 

“I’d like to thank my staff and all of the incredible support team that has done so much to help us remain competitive against other elite nations. In every single get-together, they embraced our unique challenge of rightly prioritizing the needs of the senior team while ensuring we gave our all to try and get a positive performance and result.”

“My job isn’t to say to Gareth we should have Jude, Phil, or Mason, it is about the senior team and it always will be,” Boothroyd said in March.

“His pride in working with all of our development teams has shone through and his support of the senior team has been greatly appreciated. I wish him every success on the next step of his career.”

Boothroyd said at the time: “We might not have been at our best for long periods but we showed a real British bulldog spirit. We could have nicked it but that’s football. We’ve practiced, practiced, and practiced penalties but the keeper has made two good saves. It was a real effort – a real backs against the wall job at times. It’s been a long journey. The tournament has been fantastic. I’m sure there will be future senior players in this team.”