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The most interesting thing about Thomas Tuchel becoming England’s next manager is not that the national team finally has someone with a trophy-winning pedigree. It’s that he’s German.
Tuchel, the third foreigner to coach England after Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello, reportedly accepted the toughest gig of his career on Tuesday. That’s saying something about a man who’s coached Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, and Bayern Munich in recent years. He’s looking to win things England hasn’t won in decades, and he has to do it while convincing skeptics he’s better than any of the English coaches the Football Association could’ve possibly hired in his place.
The reaction was predictable. Pundits and fans on X asked similar questions: How could the FA betray its grassroots efforts and give the biggest job in England to someone who’s barely lived there? What does it say about England that it can’t possibly source a local coach to guide one of the greatest generations of players the country has ever produced?
Even if Tuchel enjoyed a successful 15-month spell at Chelsea that culminated in Champions League glory in 2021, even if he speaks impeccable English, and even if, by all accounts, he’s a downright Anglophile, he’s still German at his core. All the good things about him – that he’s had success everywhere he’s coached, that he has a great rapport with England’s captain and record scorer, Harry Kane – inevitably come with an asterisk.
There is a certain irony about England having two Europeans as national team coaches so soon after Brexit. But the fact is that Tuchel is as much of a slam dunk hire as Sarina Wiegman was when she replaced Phil Neville as the permanent coach of England’s women’s team in 2021. Back then, Wiegman was the standout candidate and a far better choice than her predecessor, with a Euro title and a World Cup final appearance on her resume.
She ended up winning Euro 2022 with England’s Lionesses.
While Tuchel doesn’t have the same international experience Wiegman does, there’s a lot to like about his tournament record. He reached the 2020 Champions League final with PSG and led Chelsea to the summit the following season, beating Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, and Manchester City in the process. He’s methodical in training and a charismatic spokesperson for his players, and while he often clashes with upper management, he never compromises on the one thing the English love to see: high-energy, attacking football that wins matches.
Was the FA really going to give the reins to Lee Carsley, a man who seemed reluctant to do anything other than keep the seat warm for Gareth Southgate’s ultimate successor? He’s never coached in the top flight before, and his experiences in senior management were largely in a caretaker capacity. He’s not ready to take on this kind of role. He admitted that much himself.
Fellow contender Eddie Howe is in the middle of a project at Newcastle United, and Graham Potter, while available, couldn’t juggle the politics of coaching a Premier League powerhouse at Chelsea. By comparison, the national team is the Oval Office.
Besides, how can England take such a self-righteous stance against foreigners when the country’s top division, the Premier League, has established itself as the world’s best with the help of so many of them?
When England’s top clubs and executives decided to break away from the Football League and establish a self-serving “superleague” in 1992, it went on a mission to become a global phenomenon. It went from having only 13 players from outside the British Isles to showcasing players from 120 different countries and negotiating foreign broadcast deals surpassing £5 billion in value. It has attracted – and profited from – the ideas of the most influential managers in the world, tactics that have helped shape the headliners of England’s latest generation. Its players have competed both alongside and against the best there is. All the while, the money has flowed, and the cycle has repeated itself.
England decided long ago what it wanted to be. It has been all about winning for a while now – and winning well. Its national team should be no different.
As much as Southgate achieved, picking up England after a newspaper sting ended Sam Allardyce’s short reign and leading the team to back-to-back Euro finals, he ultimately fell short. Southgate’s teams entertained until they lost. When the going got tough, they played it safe. Southgate even complained about “English entitlement” and seemed to understand the process didn’t matter to people as much as it may have earlier in his tenure. Good vibes alone weren’t enough.
England has celebrated enough moral victories. The people have witnessed the brightest coaches and best athletes from Spain and Germany and France and the whole world over. If the most popular clubs in England can have the very best, why shouldn’t its biggest team of all?
