Does the England manager need to be English?

Karan Ahgun

— 4 min read
Does the England manager need to be English?
Photo by Winston Tjia / Unsplash

On Wednesday this week, decorated German manager Thomas Tuchel was officially announced as the new England manager, following Gareth Southgate's departure last summer. The appointment of a foreign manager to this job has prompted mixed feedback. Some will say that an Englishman needs to be the England manager and others will say that nationality doesn't matter, rather winning is what matters. It seems that the FA has sided with the latter argument here and are looking for as close to a guarantee of winning trophies as possible. So, does the England manager need to be English?

"International football is your best v their best". This sentiment has been shared by a portion of English fans, including high profile personalities in the media such as Jamie Carragher, Gary Neville, Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer. Another facet to this argument is to look at the managers of the other big footballing nations in the world. Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Spain all have managers of the same nationality and most of them haven't gone for a foreign manager. Therefore, you would expect England to go for an English option right? There may also be an element from these people that they are scarred from the experiences of previous foreign England managers. The late Sven Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello were previous foreign holders of the managerial post and it's fair to say that they did not make a great impression to England fans.

In the latest episode of The Overlap US, Gary Neville also made the point that Tuchel's appointment was a sad indictment of the level of English coaches and that the St. George's Park project has been betrayed by the FA. Some have called the appointment a "sacrifice of principle for a quick fix in time for the 2026 World Cup" and whilst this may be true, I don't think that England fans are in a position to turn their noses up at a great opportunity to win a major international tournament for only the second time in history. Whilst Gareth Southgate did well to get to 2 EUROs finals in his tenure, it was evident to see from the performances in these finals that he was somewhat out of his depth tactically. If someone of Tuchel's calibre was in charge for those games, England may have had a better chance and maybe be back-to-back EUROs winners.

Nationality was not a concern for people when news came out that the FA approached Pep Guardiola over the job or when Sarina Wiegman led the Lionesses to European Championship glory in 2021. The argument that the FA should be avoiding hiring a foreign manager seems pretty dated to me. Surely the most important criteria should include a manager's tactical guile and someone who can make the most out of the players they've got at their disposal. Thomas Tuchel fits this criteria perfectly. It's very obvious that Tuchel felt a personal connection to English football from his time at Chelsea and he made this point a couple of times whilst managing Bayern Munich. His hands on experience of managing in English football will surely help Tuchel settle into his role quickly and he will know most of the players under his management. The German is well-known for his attention to detail and his ability to find solutions in games.

By signing an 18 month deal, it is clear that Tuchel's objective is to win the 2026 World Cup. In fact in his first message to fans, Tuchel commented on this goal saying that he is ready to work to get England "OUR second star". His first camp will be in March 2025 and this will be the first opportunity for England fans to see how Tuchel will manage the national team. Tuchel will need to be cautious about the English media will be ready to pounce with negativity at any given moment. The next opportunity they will have will probably be around singing the national anthem, and we saw how they reacted to Lee Carsley not singing. Ultimately, England fans will now have to accept Tuchel being their manager and they can judge him on how the team performs during World Cup qualifying and the World Cup itself (if they qualify)!

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