Retired England international Gary Neville says the men’s national team is going through a transformation and he wants the Manager to stay on beyond the tournament in France.

Neville who is the assistant coach of the manager Roy Hodgson believes the tactician should remain at the helm of affairs no matter what happens at the tournament, where The Three Lions are among the favourites to lift the trophy.

The former Blackburn, Liverpool and Fulham boss has made a lot of changes to the national team, with many criticizing his choices. The competitions seems like one that will be the judge of his efforts and there are speculations that if the manager fails at the games, he should be let off. Neville stepped in to address those concerns by saying the country should keep the coach even as his contract is due to expire in the summer.

Neville believes the changes the team has experienced since the disappointing World Cup campaign in 2014 have gone under the radar. Having lost to Italy and Uruguay, Hodgson played lots of young players like Luke Shaw and Raheem Sterling. In the game against Costa Rica, Phil Jones, Jack Wilshere and Ross Barkley were all 22-years-old or younger. In the last game at the tournament in Brazil, only 36-year old Frank Lampard played of the experienced players. On the support they received from the last game, Neville said:

“We owe those fans something. The way in which they treated us at the end of that game against Costa Rica, when we walked over to them, I’ve never seen that before.”

Neville also praised the fact that Hodgson stuck with young players unlike 2010 where they had to recall old players with panic calls till the last day. He also added:

“What Roy’s been over the last four years is bold. He’s taken the average age down from 28/29 to 23/24 from Euro 2012 to Euro 2016.”