Abhay Singh
Premier League managers were collectively united in their effusive praise for the newly appointed head coach of the England national team, Thomas Tuchel, during their Thursday discussions.
While expressing admiration for Tuchel, they underlined the critical importance of creating elite-level opportunities for English coaches in the highly competitive football landscape.
This sentiment echoes the growing call for a balanced approach that not only appreciates international talent but also nurtures and supports local coaching expertise to ultimately enrich the sport’s development within the country.
Tuchel is the first German to manage England
After Italian Fabio Capello and Swedish Sven-Goran Eriksson, Tuchel, the former manager of Chelsea and Bayern Munich, is the first German and third foreign manager of England.
Eddie Howe of Newcastle United and Graham Potter, the former head coach of Chelsea, were two names associated with the position.
Everton coach Sean Dyche said “I think most would have liked an English coach or that’s the general feeling I get from the masses it seems. The game is diversifying all the time and he certainly has got a record that justifies him getting the job,”
“I don’t think it’s disheartening, I think it’s a reality for the modern game. Every pathway doesn’t lead to where you want it to,” he added.
He also added “It’s a massively challenging job and changed over the years. At some point in your career, you’d like to have a look at but it’s certainly not the right time for me. (Howe) was certainly one who I looked at and thought you could consider as the next England manager.”
“It’s really difficult to get the opportunity”
English-born former Scotland international and Southampton manager Russell Martin stated that there were numerous coaches in the nation qualified for the position.
He said “English managers – it’s really difficult to get the opportunity to manage in the Premier League unless you take a team there a lot of the time,”
“Maybe English managers aren’t given enough credit or maybe they are deemed not good enough by the most important people… In terms of (Tuchel) getting the job, I think he’s a brilliant manager and will do a really good job. But I think it will cause a lot of interesting discussion and conversation and especially at the FA because we have a well-renowned coach education system that people come from far and wide to do, but we can’t appoint someone from that,” he stated.
The appointment of Sarina Wiegman (Netherlands), the coach of the England women’s cricket team, and Brendon McCullum (New Zealand), the coach of the England men’s cricket team, was mentioned by Leicester City manager and former England Under-17 coach Steve Cooper.
He said “They are brilliant coaches, Maybe it’s a debate for sport in general. There’s always going to be a mixed opinion on it. There’s always going to be that debate and I guess there’s no right or wrong with that opinion. It’s a brilliant job, the FA have appointed a top coach and a top assistant. It will be exciting to see how it goes… I really believe in British culture, I believe in the coaching education pathway,”
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