Gareth Southgate is currently readying his England squad for this summer's European Championships, hoping that he can play his part in ending the nation's 55-year wait for a major tournament trophy.

England enter the tournament amongst the favourites to make next month's final, and with the side set to enjoy home advantage for the majority of the competition, the pressure is on. That pressure is unlikely to bother Southgate too much, though.

Indeed, he has been operating at the highest level for over three decades now.

Having started his playing days at Crystal Palace in 1989, Southgate went on to represent Aston Villa and Middlesbrough later in his career, while also picking up 57 caps for his country. He appeared in three major tournaments for England, and made the squad in another, with his standout summer for the Three Lions coming in Euro 96 when he helped the team through to the semi-finals.

Upon his retirement in 2006, he immediately went into management at Middlesbrough, where he took charge of over 150 matches, before he began his path into international coaching.

Having worked with England Under-21s from 2013 to 2016, Southgate's big moment arrived when he took over from Sam Allardyce as England's national team manager.

If there were any doubts about his appointment, Southgate went some way to extinguishing them when he led England to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the first time that England had made it to that stage of a global tournament in 28 years.

After coming so close three years ago, Southgate will hope that the team can go all the way this time, and they appear to be well-equipped to do so.

But first, Southgate recently appeared on the High Performance Podcast to look back on his career.

During the episode, he was asked to name the three principles that he will always stand by.

Here, GIVEMESPORT take a detailed look at Southgate's three non-negotiables...

1. Respect

When the question was posed to him about his non-negotiables, Southgate did not take long to give his first answer.

He said: "Respect is huge and probably covers a lot of the areas really because it's not just respect for me, it's respect for everybody, the team ethos, the lady on reception, your teammate.

"If you're coming off the pitch, respect for the teammate that's coming on, that encapsulates timekeeping, encapsulates preparing professionally for a game. So I think it's sort of the bedrock of everything really."

Southgate has become an admired figurehead for England, always remaining respectful with the media, and this appears to have rubbed off on his players.

The England squad seems to be a tight-knit group nowadays, with respect between players clear for all to see. This will need to remain the case this summer if England are to have any chance of making the final in July.

2. Trust

Another reason for England's perceived togetherness in recent years has been due to the trust within the squad. There do not appear to be any cliques, and Southgate admits that trust is of paramount importance when in a team environment.

He clarified his position on the matter on the podcast by saying: "The only other one I felt was trust in that there's got to be an agreed integrity to the way we work.

"We're working with top people, we're privy to incredible information about individual's lives that of course, going into a major tournament, would be incredibly valuable.

"So if we operate without integrity at any level, I'm talking staff mainly here, then that would be hugely damaging. And I think that integrity in any business would be critical, you've got to be able to trust people."

With the eyes of the nation set to be on the England team this summer, Southgate appears to be acutely aware that his team and staff must stick together and trust one another to make it through to the latter stages of the tournament.

3. Authenticity

Southgate was reluctant to give a third non-negotiable, but he settled on one in the end - authenticity.

The 50-year-old has gained a reputation in his role as England manager of being honest with the public, explaining his way of thinking wherever possible.

This, perhaps, is why he has been so successful in the job, as it is likely that his players appreciate his honesty, and know that Southgate will not skirt around an answer even when posed with a difficult question.

These principles have worked for Southgate so far in his career, and over the next month, we will get to find out whether the England manager can lean on these non-negotiables to help guide England to their first-ever European Championship trophy.

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