Thomas Tuchel confirmed as England’s new manager from 2025 – live

Just a reminder that the big Tuchel introductory press conference is coming up at 1.30pm. In the meantime, Sky is trying to burnish his all-important bantz credentials by digging up a clip of him trying to learn Cockney rhyming slang (and not really grasping it, if we’re honest) during his Chelsea tenure. Also, since when was Steffi Graf, rather than “giraffe” slang for “laugh”?

Some more cogent comment from BTL, this from Zippy’s Teeth:

You look at comparable nations – italy, germany, france, spain – and what they all have in common, apart from winning and reaching multiple finals over several decades, is a steady supply of top coaches who often emerge from within. Löw was assistant before stepping up, the spanish dude who won this years euros was u21s coach. There is a culture at club and association level of developing coaches and giving them a go. Doesnt always work but often it does. Guardiola became barca coach after being the reserves coach.

That culture seems alien, so far, in english club football. A top manager stands down or is fired and there is a clamour for some new, ready-made stardust coach.

The closest english football has come to emulating the mindset of nurturing new coaches is, ironically, in the national team set up. Southgate was instrumental in creating a club ethos in england, of the different age groups pulling in the same way and a clear progression path for coaches. This has also coincided with englands most successful spell in ages (abetted it must be said with some kind tournament draws). And yet Southgate is chased away by press and fans who demanded stardust. If tuchel fails then there is every risk that england will go back to the merry go round of random appointments and the gains in continuity are lost.

For what its worth, the other uk nations arent much better. There is no heir apparent to steve clarke in scotland and scottish clubs are not promoting from within as they used to. Wales and NI ditto. Though there is also much less of a circus compared with england, more a sense of lets get on with it when new appointments are made.

The fact that the appointment of Tuchel was decided on 8 October, two days before the fun and frolics of the Greece defeat, makes all the contortions and confusions of those Carsley press conference seem almost a tad, well, cruel. Like the whole thing – including the game against Greece itself – was some kind of situationist prank, an elaborate piece of performance art.

A bit more reaction anyhow. Alan Shearer reckons they jumped in for Tuchel now to head off Manchester United when/if Erik ten Hag gets binned, reports PA Media. “You then have to look at what’s available to you. They’ve looked at Thomas Tuchel and have thought there is a chance he could get the Manchester United job pretty soon. So opportunity lies now. If they didn’t act quick now they weren’t going to get one of the outstanding candidates for the job.”

Shearer does not have a problem with the whole German manager thing, saying: “If he’s the outstanding candidate, yeah. There’s no doubt he’s got an incredible CV, what he’s won and managing at the highest level, working with superstars. But this is going to be a very, very different test for him. It’s a bold move from the FA, there’s no doubt about it. We need a trophy, it’s as simple as that. And we need a manager that can deliver that.

“I hope they have spoken to English managers. I am reliably told they didn’t speak to Eddie Howe, which is a surprise to me as he’s the outstanding English candidate. I’m happy in a way because Newcastle are not going to lose their manager.”

His fellow former England striker turned broadcaster Gary Lineker concurred, adding: “I don’t think it is imperative (to have an English manager). I’m not going to lose sleep over it. But my personal preference would be that England has an English coach.

“For some reason English football hasn’t produced a plethora of brilliant coaches. Why that is, I don’t know. I think that will happen. We are starting to see really good coaches coming through. But I think the reason that we have not produced great coaches is the fact that we were stuck in the past in terms of long-ball football. We were behind everybody else.”

While Gary Neville told Sky Sports News: “It’s not really about Thomas Tuchel, but there is an element of disappointment in my head that the FA have gone to an international coach. I think he is a great coach. He has taken a job with a group of talented players and I think everyone will wish him all the best and hope he can get over the line and win a trophy.

“But I think there are some serious questions for the FA to answer in respect of English coaches. I do think we are damaging ourselves. Accepting that Thomas Tuchel is better than any of the other English candidates, but with the likes of Graham Potter and Eddie Howe, I do think there are outstanding candidates that could have been appointed that are English.”

Thanks Michael. Good afternoon everyone as this Big Day Of Opinions continues. Looking back at those newspaper back pages, what strikes is that none of them would have been a surprise to anyone who’d just woken up from 1994 after a 30-year sleep (though witchcraft such as internet live blogs would have spooked them). Even the jokey ones about winning on penalties are totally outdated, with England now one of the best teams at penalty shootouts in world football. Other than that, lads, well done, and crack on …

I’m off for some lunch. Tom Davies will guide you through the next hour. In a bit!

Thomas Tuchel: ‘I’m quite nervous’

A reminder that the press conference to welcome Thomas Tuchel will take place at Wembley at 1.30pm BST.

To complement the above tweet, the following paragraph is from a piece by Alex Clapham in 2021.

In 2017, Spain boasted a whopping 15,089 coaches who held either the Uefa Pro or Uefa A qualification. The numbers are extraordinary, especially when compared to the 1,796 qualified coaches in England. The prices tell their own story. Whereas the Spanish A licence costs a mere £960 and the Pro licence costs £1,070, enrolling on the A licence in England costs £3,645 and a staggering £9,890 to complete the Pro licence – if there are any places available on the handful of courses at St George’s Park.

I revisited this piece by Barney Ronay from 2022, written after Chelsea’s Champions League exit to Real Madrid (despite winning 3-2 at the Bernabéu).

Thomas Tuchel’s career in numbers:

Nine – major trophy wins with former clubs Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich.
16 – years spent as a head coach after starting his managerial career with Augsburg’s reserve team in 2007.
18 – Tuchel has signed an 18-month contract with the FA.
1973 – the year Tuchel was born (August 29).
4-2-3-1 – Tuchel’s preferred playing formation.
Three – major trophy wins in the 2019-20 season with PSG (Ligue 1, Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue).
2025 – The former Chelsea boss will start his new role on January 1.
17 – months in charge of Chelsea (January 2021-September 2022)
86 – league appearances as a player in Germany’s lower leagues
Three – red cards during his playing career
One – Champions League triumph (with Chelsea in 2021).
One – Uefa men’s coach of the year award 2020-21.
Two – Premier League manager of the month Awards (March 2021, October 2021)
61 – games in charge of Bayern Munich
127 – games in charge of PSG.
100 – games in charge of Chelsea.
107 – games in charge of Borussia Dortmund.

Let’s not forget the outpouring of love for Sven-Göran Eriksson, England men’s first foreign manager, after his death earlier this year.

Yes, there was a predictably furore when Eriksson was appointed, but ultimately he is not remembered in this country for his nationality.

Two decent, differing comments from below the line.

I do not think it to be silly. Every coach that has won the World Cup has come from the same country, and only one foreign coach has won the Euros (Otto Rehhagel for Greece in 2004).

Having a foreign coach means we have failed to produce top class coaches despite the investment into our coaching facilities.

An email from Tom Leonard:

I think Tuchel’s perceived argumentative nature is overblown and exaggerated. You have to look at the context of his falling outs. At Bayern he got caught up in the backstage, politicking that saw Kahn and Salihamadic leave and an old guard that never seemed to want him in the first place. At Chelsea he got along fine with Abramovich when all he was asked to do was coach. It was only when Boehly’s disruptive blue sky bullshit came in that there was problems. And at PSG his team was overloaded with £200m primadona attackers he didn’t want while being expected to win the Champions League every season, and even then he got them as close as anyone. I think he’s a great manager.

Just a reminder for anyone frothing at the mouth that some of the world’s most important male football nations are also managed by foreign managers. This is just a small selection, there are countless others. Tuchel is not a seminal appointment in that regard.

Portugal are managed by Roberto Martínez, a Belgian.

Uruguay are managed by Marcelo Bielsa, an Argentinian.

Belgium are managed by Domenico Tedesco, an Italian-German.

USA are managed by Mauricio Pochettino, an Argentinian.

Algeria are managed by Vladimir Petkovic, a Swiss.

Colombia are managed by Néstor Lorenzo, an Argentinian.

Sweden are managed by Jon Dahl Tomasson, a Dane.

Prince William, patron of the FA, has tweeted his support for Tuchel.

John Cross, in the Daily Mirror, writes that Tuchel’s German’s nationality shouldn’t be an issue.

Clearly the FA’s preferred option would always be an English manager and a coach who came through the St George’s Park system – otherwise it highlights the fact they are not producing homegrown managers.

But from day one, FA chief executive Mark Bullingham held up Sarina Wiegman as an example as a Dutch coach who led the Lionesses to Euros glory at Wembley and the reason why they would go for the best candidate for the job. That is Tuchel. Newcastle boss Eddie Howe was another candidate while Graham Potter was never really in the frame and Tuchel’s track record also puts him in a different bracket.

This is the manager who has actually seen off Guardiola, leading Chelsea to glory in the 2021 Champions League final against Manchester City.

The fact Tuchel is German may have some England fans and critics jumping up and down but he was hugely popular during his time at Chelsea. In fact, it would not be too much of a stretch to describe him as an Anglophile as he loved London, enjoyed English culture and was loved here, too.

The Daily Star’s headline was more light-hearted.

Sam Wallace, the Daily Telegraph’s chief football writer, wrote on Monday that he thinks the manager of England should be English, three days after making the case for Pep Guardiola taking the job.

The full piece is here (behind a paywall).

UK press reaction

Our report on Thomas Tuchel’s appointment

FA CEO Mark Bullingham: ‘Tuchel gives us the best chance of winning the 2026 World Cup’

Thomas Tuchel: ‘This is a huge privilege’

Confirmed details:

• Tuchel will be assisted by English coach Anthony Barry, who is currently the assistant manager for the Portugal national team under Roberto Martínez. Tuchel and Barry worked together at Chelsea and Bayern.

• Tuchel and Barry will begin work on 1 January 2025 before the qualification process for the 2026 World Cup. He has been given an 18-month contract until after that tournament in the US.

• The decision to recruit Tuchel and Barry was approved by the FA Board early last week, with Tuchel signing his contract on Tuesday 8 October (interestingly two days before the defeat to Greece). The announcement was delayed to minimise distraction around the international camp.

• Interim head coach Lee Carsley will remain in charge of England through to the conclusion of the Nations League group stage next month, with games away to Greece and at home to Republic of Ireland. Carsley will then return to lead England’s Under-21s.

Tuchel is confirmed as England manager!

Here’s Jacob Steinberg on Tuchel as a tactician and coach:

One of Thomas Tuchel’s old bosses calls him a “footballaholic”. The image is of a man who spends every minute of every day poring over the game’s tactical intricacies. No wonder Tuchel quickly made good on his promise to turn Chelsea into a team that nobody would relish playing after inheriting a broken unit from Frank Lampard in January 2021.

They were champions of Europe four months later, stunning Pep Guardiola and Manchester City in a tense final in Porto after perfectly carrying out Tuchel’s plan. It was a remarkable achievement. Chelsea were flailing in mid-table when the German who has agreed to be England’s next manager took over. They were shipping goals at an alarming rate. Undeterred, Tuchel immediately ironed out the flaws and introduced a 3-4-2-1 system that turned Chelsea into the stingiest team in Europe.

The full article here.

For those that are arguing that Tuchel has a prickly character, I think it’s worth remembering his statement when leaving Chelsea. It was heartfelt and honest when it could easily have been vindictive and bitter.

“This is one of the most difficult statements I have ever had to write – and it is one which I hoped I would not need to do for many years. I am devastated that my time at Chelsea has come to an end. This is a club where I felt at home, both professionally and personally. Thank you so much to all the staff, the players and the supporters for making me feel very welcome from the start.

“This is a club where I felt at home, both professionally and personally. Thank you so much to all the staff, the players and the supporters for making me feel very welcome from the start.”

In hindsight sacking Tuchel was a huge mistake with the Blues since struggling under Graham Potter, Frank Lampard and (to a lesser extent) Mauricio Pochettino.

This made me laugh.

Press conference scheduled for 1.30pm BST

“Can somebody explain why he is so disliked in Germany?” emails Michael Abbott.

First off, I’m not sure that dislike is the right phrase. Remember that Germany’s biggest club, Bayern Munich, wanted to keep him as manager last season, but ultimately Tuchel walked. He is certainly well respected in his homeland and so nearly beat Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final last season.

It’s true, though, that he’s not Germany’s No 1 son. Tuchel has managed in Germany with Mainz, Dortmund and Bayern, but the majority of the silverware he has won has been in England and France. His stewardship at Bayern and Dortmund (post-Klopp) was often fraught.

An excerpt from Barney Ronay’s piece.

With Tuchel now on the verge, it seems the current executive are in fact close to an objectively impressive piece of recruitment. While objectivity has never really had much place around here, Tuchel will represent a significant departure in two obvious ways.

For starters, this would be the first time the FA has appointed a coach who has worked in England and won the European Cup. Fabio Capello had the second of these, and undertook the first with all the infectious enthusiasm of a man cleaning out a particularly noxious cat litter tray. Don Revie and Bobby Robson won European trophies. Sven-Göran Eriksson hoovered up some high-spec silverware.

But Tuchel is something more specific. This is a former Uefa men’s coach of the year, who led two clubs to the final of the Champions League in three years. Plus, of course, alongside quite a few misses, he has that obvious recent major final victory, achieved with an English team, or at least one containing three English players in the squad for the final.

If the idea is to retain the possession-centred systems football of the England DNA years, while infusing this with some knowledge of how to actually win big games in the saddle; if being sacked for failing to appreciate Todd Boehly’s Monopoly-on-acid vision of team building can be considered in retrospect a massive tick; then Tuchel fits the job description very well.

Read the full article here.

What we know so far

Preamble