Gareth Southgate had to undergo mental tests before taking England job

England boss Gareth Southgate had to undergo mental tests before taking the job

Southgate, 46, has signed a four-contract and such are the immense stresses and strains of the job that FA wanted to make sure he had the mental toughness to do it.

"It's about thinking correctly under pressure," said FA chief executive Martin Glenn on Thursday.

"It's really important for the England team and important for anyone in a high-pressure role.

"We had Gareth independently assessed for mental strengths and how he takes decisions. We had extensive background checks. We went through the psychological assessments together.

"And that has given us an idea of what kind of support we need to put around Gareth because it's never just one person. It's a support network."

The FA work with former Olympic gold medal swimmer Adrian Moorehouse's Lane4 company, which helps individuals and teams fulfil their potential, to do their psychological profiling.

Southgate underwent a three-hour interview last week at St George's Park and Glenn said: "It started off with a review of the last four games, and 'what have you learnt' and there was some feisty opinions. That was saying 'okay do Gareth's powers of analysis stand up to scrutiny?'

"It is a case of 'what do we need to do to guarantee that England under Gareth can be as successful as they can?'

"It was a combination of things to compare and contrast against other people we had seen, looking at independent assessments of the type of manager he is, thinker he is, and then seeing him answer quite a few tough questions."

Southgate's first game as permanent England boss will be against Lithuania at Wembley in March.