Germans don’t really do irony, it is often said. But reactions to the news that Thomas Tuchel has been appointed England manager have been so steeped in caustic ribaldry to suggest they understand it very well.
“No other football nation has caused England more pain in recent decades than Germany,” Sven Haist, the London-based sports correspondent for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, pointed out. Now the nation’s longing for the ultimate crown of the sport “is supposed to be fulfilled by – of all people – a German coach”.
