Tuchel getting England job was no betrayal – he gives us best World Cup chance

ON the day Thomas Tuchel was unveiled as England manager, I was on an LMA course with 20 people who all aspire to be elite football bosses.

Some were currently in charge of league clubs, some out of work, some who recently retired as footballers and others who are coming towards the end of their playing careers.

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Most of us were English and all of us were in a classroom at St. George’s Park, the national football centre, on the ‘pathway’ which might ultimately lead to the job Tuchel has just accepted.

You might imagine that there’d be plenty in that room on Wednesday who were upset or angry that the FA had decided to give their top job to a foreigner.

But that was not the case.

The majority, including me, believed the FA have made a good decision in appointing the former Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain manager to lead the Three Lions into the 2026 World Cup.

Football is a very cosmopolitan world and so those involved in the modern game don’t think too much about nationality.

To rail against a German getting the England job is outdated thinking.

While there were some differences of opinion among those of us on the LMA course, I don’t think any of us felt that the English coaching community had been snubbed or betrayed by Tuchel’s appointment.

Many of us felt it was encouraging that Tuchel had got the England job having failed to win a trophy at Bayern Munich last season.

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The idea that football managers can suffer a downturn in fortunes in one job, then rise again, is a positive.

Of course, in an ideal world, the England manager would be English.

But we are not living in an ideal world.

The FA were right to be pragmatic and not obsessed by the idea of an English boss.

Gareth Southgate did a fine job as England manager. He did everything but win a trophy.

Now, with an excellent squad of players, who have a genuine chance of success at the World Cup in America, what the FA need is a proven trophy-winning manager.

And at the moment there simply aren’t any English managers who have won a major trophy.

Eddie Howe is a very good Premier League boss and I suspect the FA would have gone for him if they could have easily afforded to pay compensation to lure him away from Newcastle.

But even Howe has never won a major trophy.

So to give England the best chance of winning the World Cup, they had to go for an available, world-class manager ­— and so Tuchel looks like the best realistic candidate.

One English coach I met at St George’s Park this week said that while he didn’t believe the FA were wrong, he hoped that Tuchel failed, so that the FA didn’t go for a foreign boss again.

I’d never want England to fail but I understand his point.

For me, the fact that Tuchel has been given just an 18-month contract is good thinking too.

This contract is just for the World Cup and if England win it, or if the working relationship is an obvious success but the team comes up just short at the tournament, then Tuchel might sign a new deal.

If not, he goes and the next England boss will probably be English.
I’m not a massive fan of the FA but I think they have got this right.

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Now Tuchel, who officially starts work in January, has five months before his first match in charge and he must use that time to observe and to speak to all the major figures in the English game – the club managers and the players themselves – and formulate a firm plan.

One crucial thing is that Tuchel does not pick on reputation.

That he picks the best team, rather than trying to fit in all of the best individuals.

He can be a hardline boss who knows his own mind and so he mustn’t be afraid to drop the biggest names if he decides that is the best thing for the team.

I’m a massive fan of Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane but that includes them too.

I wrote about my personal admiration of Lee Carsley after his first couple of games as the national team’s interim boss — and I still believe that he is an  excellent coach.

But I don’t think the FA have treated him well — especially during this last international break when Tuchel had already signed a contract but Carsley was having to keep schtum about his own future.

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Carsley is too honest a bloke to deal with those sorts of questions. He isn’t comfortable being vague or telling lies.

His experience as interim boss shows you there is so much more to elite management than merely being a good coach.

Personally, I’ve completed my Uefa A licence and will be doing my Pro Licence next year.

But the LMA course I mentioned is about the rest of a manager’s job,  essentially it’s about ‘managing up’.

It’s about dealing with directors of football and club owners — which, given my own brief experience as manager of Forest Green Rovers last season — is proving invaluable.

I may or may not end up getting anywhere close to the job Tuchel has taken on.

But please don’t think that those of us who might ultimately aspire to the England job are frothing at the mouth and raging about the appointment of a German.