The coach was abused and had plastic cups thrown at him by supporters after the Three Lions played out a dull 0-0 draw against Slovenia in their final group match but is determined to front up by thanking those who are cheering on the team.

Southgate said: "I’m not going to hide from it. I’ve got to show my players the fearlessness we are asking of them on the pitch. So I will continue to do that. We are playing for big stakes, we are trying to do something that has never been done before and so we have to have a mentality that we are prepared to walk towards those challenges.

"We need the whole team. I’m proud of what the players did, they showed the right mentality, they showed bravery in a difficult environment at times, they showed patience and we didn’t quite get what they deserved from the game but they have to keep going and, in the end, things will turn."

England's performances at the tournament so far have been criticised by fans and pundits alike but Southgate explained how he showed the players pictures of other teams celebrating to remind them of the joy that comes with progressing in a major tournament.

He said: "I have to keep the players right on track. On the day of the game I showed them pictures of Italy celebrating their qualification with their fans, of Hungary celebrating when they didn’t even know if they were through. Denmark celebrating a draw against us and they were on two points.

"Our world is different at the moment and I feel that is probably because of me. I have to help the players as much as I possibly can because we brought the joy back into playing for England and we have to be very careful of where we head with it."