[alex1]

Tuchel's definitely not a Yes man and has a reputation as being sensitive to personal criticism.  After the bosses at Bayern had fired him, they then asked him to stay on when they found it difficult to find a successor, but Tuchel basically told them to shove it.  However, I think tactically he's a good trainer.

[Standaman]

It seems Tuchel is to be appointed. Frankly I don't know how it will work if for no other reason than regardless of Tuchel's record he has never coached an international team which is a totally different beast to being a coach at a club. I hope he has sufficient gravitas to stick to his principles and not be swayed by calls for players to be included in squads or shoe horned into teams because they are the flavour of the month in English football which in part was Carsley's undoing.

It doesn't say anything about English coaching that we didn't know already. We are still playing catch up to every other major footballing nation. The pool of English (even British/Irish) coaching talent with any credibility at this level is tiny and even smaller when those like Howe and Potter probably see their immediate futures in club roles.

I wish him well he has talent to work with but lets hope he gets the best out of the group at his disposal it is never perfect but that's International football folks.

[NJS]

Not really for me, he’s a better manager than any of the potential available English candidates. I couldn’t give a monkeys what nationality he is as long as he wins a trophy with England.

So an England team with a foreign coach and presumably his foreign assistants can be called an England team - that's what a third tier footballing nation does.  If we can't produce our own coaches, do we deserve to win a trophy?

Signs of desperation.  Bring back Fabio Capello!

[Standaman]

So an England team with a foreign coach and presumably his foreign assistants can be called an England team - that's what a third tier footballing nation does.  If we can't produce our own coaches, do we deserve to win a trophy?

Signs of desperation.  Bring back Fabio Capello!

If you want proven coaches at the highest level they ain't English or even British. There might be a whole plethora of reasons why that is the case. However not much has changed in the 8 years that Southgate was in post and remember he was only appointed because Allardyce was fired and the appointee had to be English.

If the appointee has to have a trophy winning CV then that limits the pool to virtually nothing in England. During the time Southgate was England manager the big 6 clubs made 19 Head Coach appointments. The nationality breaks down as follows

Italian 4
Spanish 3
Portuguese 3
German 2
Dutch 2
English 2
Norwegian 1
Australian 1
Argentinian 1

The 2 English managers were both appointed by Chelsea, Frank Lampard and Graham Potter. Neither are among the current 6 British managers plying their trade in the Premier League. The less said about Lampard's managerial career the better and right now Potter seems to have lost interest in football coaching and is living in a Yurt somewhere on the Mongolian high plateau.

I am not sure what the solution is but growing coaches within the FA's youth structure inevitably leads to appointments like Lee Carsley, who no doubt is a very good technical coach but is ill prepared for a role of the profile of the England senior team. The bias is toward technical coaching and that can be seen in where FA coaches have gone after their time at the FA for the most part they work in Youth Development or as Assistants. Steve Cooper and Rob Edwards who have carved out careers as Head Coaches are the exceptions rather than the rule and the irony is that both are Welsh.

Until there are number of English coaches breaking through at the top end of the game the choice will be either a foreign coach or one that isn't quite as good as we might hope for.

[hardtobeat]

This “ growing a coach “ is a total load of nonsense imo ! By doing this you’ll have no variety. To me coaching will come from a persons beliefs and how best to implement them. Mourinho & Guardiola both successful with very different styles on how best to get a result which is the end game !
It is an old chestnut of mine but I just don’t rate the majority of English managers/ coaches over a number of years.
I have no complaints about the appointment what I do find strange is the short length of the contract, 18 months at international level seems very restrictive when the shortage of games is taken into account

[NJS]

Recent World Cup winning Teams

        Manager          Nationality   Winning Team

1998   Aimé Jacquet        France            France
2002   Luiz Felipe Scolari     Brazil            Brazil
2006   Marcello Lippi         Italy            Italy
2010   Vicente del Bosque    Spain    Spain
2014   Joachim Löw         Germany    Germany
2018   Didier Deschamps     France    France
2022   Lionel Scaloni         Argentina    Argentina

A national team manager has very little time to bring on individual players technically.  What he can do in the short time he is with is instil a sense of purpose , pride and willingness to give everything for the cause.  What he can do is  build a team that is greater than the sum of its parts.  I'm not sure that  someone who does not belong to a nation can do that for that nation's football team.

If we do win a trophy under Tuchel then it will be "Tuchel's England" that will get the plaudits.  Fine if you want that.

[WBAinDEVON]

the appointment gets a thumbs up from me

[hardtobeat]

Have heard a lot of this ‘ England should have an English manager’ but haven’t seen many names put forward and also reckon they’d have been creaming themselves if the next manager was a Spanish fella currently managing Englands current champions

[SmethDan]

I've no idea how this will pan out but I wish Thomas Tuchel all the very best of British on his appointment to the role of England manager. For those concerned with a German getting the gig Tuchel was born in Krumbach which is in Bavaria.

In my experience Bavarians do not generally identify as German. At all. And that's putting it politely. Think Scousers identifying as English, times it by Celtic supporters identifying as British and you'll be on the way to understanding what I mean  .

[MarkW]

Recent World Cup winning Teams

        Manager          Nationality   Winning Team

1998   Aimé Jacquet        France            France
2002   Luiz Felipe Scolari     Brazil            Brazil
2006   Marcello Lippi         Italy            Italy
2010   Vicente del Bosque    Spain    Spain
2014   Joachim Löw         Germany    Germany
2018   Didier Deschamps     France    France
2022   Lionel Scaloni         Argentina    Argentina

A national team manager has very little time to bring on individual players technically.  What he can do in the short time he is with is instil a sense of purpose , pride and willingness to give everything for the cause.  What he can do is  build a team that is greater than the sum of its parts.  I'm not sure that  someone who does not belong to a nation can do that for that nation's football team.

If we do win a trophy under Tuchel then it will be "Tuchel's England" that will get the plaudits.  Fine if you want that.

In general, other nationalities don't appoint non-nationals, so there's not a huge sample of teams to look to for examples of where it has worked, because it doesn't happen very often.

Martinez at Belgium is probably the only one I can think of, and I don't rate him as highly as Tuchel. Greece won the Euros with a German in charge.

Will be interesting to see how he gets on - from what I gather he focuses on players problem solving rather than sticking to a specified plan.

[boinging_along]

Yeah, but look how good a set of managers they are.  Can't imagine Potter alongside them.

[gazberg]

Best of luck Thomas.


Dan is right, the Bavarians I've met despise Germany so I'm going to take that small number of Bavarians and apply it across the whole Bavarian people.

[BagAlbion123]

Wow what a fantastic appointment if the other options were Potter and Howe. Fact people would have them in charge instead because they're English is crazy. When was the last Englishman to even win a domestic trophy? Redknapp in 08? (Still feel robbed of a place in the final for that semi final game...)

[hardtobeat]

Not only is it a good appointment but he has an English number 2 , who is his usual assistant !

[OldburyWBA]

Not bothered that he's not English, other sports have Head Coaches from outside this country, you go for the best available not specifically the best from your nation.

There is something about him I don't like but thats my problem and has absolutely no impact on anything outside my head. I would however like to know the reason he left Chelsea as Simon Jordan keeps hinting at something which if it is a biggie the press will no doubt be very willing to drop the bombshell at some stage especially if we start doing well, as its what they do.

[SmethDan]

Not only is it a good appointment but he has an English number 2 , who is his usual assistant !

Anthony Barry was born in Liverpool. Scousers don't tend to identify as English and generally despise the real 'Royal' Family and their anthem. Anthony Barry might not be quite the aspirin some will be wanting to take with a Bavarian at the helm  .

[GrumpyBaggie]

Let's face it - England will never appoint a top coach of any nationality, who is at the height of their powers.  Why? Top coaches much prefer to ply their trade with one of the top dozen or so Eoropeans sides (btw England is still in Europe, geograhically).  Generally they only accept international jobs in the twilight of their career.

Who cares anyway, international football is just a pain in the neck that gets in the way of proper football.

[hardtobeat]

Hope Tuchels England play a better game than some of the journos at the presser , some stupid questions and some , yes you Henry Winter unable to count up to one !

[robnewbold]

'Trousers down' Tuchel it is then. Not blown away by this appointment, but it could have been worse.
 I think the 18 month contract is in anticipation of a potential Guardiola appointment, but either way it would not inspire confidence in the appointed. It seems like a stop gap.
We could not appoint an English coach because none of them are good enough by a long shot. I don't think that Lampard or Howe  were ever serious candidates, unless of course the FA are imbeciles....which of course they are.

[alex1]

I think Potter will be disappointed, as I have a feeling he missed out on accepting several PL jobs for this one.  I don't think being Bavarian makes him less German, even if they have their own regional traditions. There's no separatist movement like in Catalonia or Scotland.

I think Tuchell is a good coach, and anyone who has won the Champions League must have something. The only thing is, he's not a Yes man, so that can end in conflicts. Therefore, I think a 18 month contract is wise, as if there is a conflict, and with our tabloid press you can bet they would amplify that for 100%, the FA wouldn't want a hefty  compensation bill to pay.

[GrumpyBaggie]

I don't think being Bavarian makes him less German, even if they have their own regional traditions. There's no separatist movement like in Catalonia or Scotland.

Probably because the German system of regional governments allow a fair degree of independence.  Even so Bavaria is much more distinctive than the other German states, and they really do consider themselves superior to the rest of the country

[SmethDan]

Probably because the German system of regional governments allow a fair degree of independence.  Even so Bavaria is much more distinctive than the other German states, and they really do consider themselves superior to the rest of the country

Bang on. My mate's Bavarian wife despised Germans and was most offended when referred to as being German. She used to go a very funny shade of reddish god knows what when we used to sing the opening lines of Deutschland Uber Alles whenever she walked in the squadron bar. Fair to say it was funnier to us than it was to her. All that with a picture of the Queen on the wall  .

[gazberg]

Probably because the German system of regional governments allow a fair degree of independence.  Even so Bavaria is much more distinctive than the other German states, and they really do consider themselves superior to the rest of the country

The ones I got hammered with at Oktoberfest in Munich really despised them. Had no idea there was such animosity

[Albionic]

Nationality is irrelevant, I also agree with the comment above about the FA growing coaches being dumb, You cannot develop leadership to a formula, there is a large element of leadership which comes naturally, and if anyone thinks they can coach / train people to lead in a certain way they are deluded. That would be an ability worth many billions in the commercial world

[alex1]

Probably because the German system of regional governments allow a fair degree of independence.  Even so Bavaria is much more distinctive than the other German states, and they really do consider themselves superior to the rest of the country

Agree with all that. Bavarians have a cultural difference with north Germans and 'Prussians', but it doesn't go so far as not feeling German. Beckenbauer, Lahm, Muller (both famous ones), Schweinsteiger all Bavarians, but never heard they didn't want to represent Germany. I live in Hamburg much of the year, and lots of rivalry and songs about Bayern, (one about pulling their Lederhosen down!), but it doesn't go further than that.