Joe Cole has praised Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel for showing dignity and fronting up to difficult questions, joking he should be in the running to lead the country as a result.
The Blues have been in the full glare of the world’s focus over the past week or so, stemming from owner Roman Abramovich trying to place stewardship of the club in the hands of the Foundation trustees.
Soon after that he was sanctioned by the government and had assets frozen, meaning Chelsea could no longer renew player contracts, earn income from merchandise sales or even arrange for tickets to be bought by supporters, as part of the measures included in their special licence to keep operating. The Russian owner was then also disqualified as a director of the club by the Premier League.
Abramovich listed the club for sale and huge numbers of consortiums, individuals and investment funds have since been linked with bids, while against the backdrop of it all, the men’s and women’s teams have had to continue trying to focus on playing and winning games as they seek to end the season with silverware.
In and around those games, Tuchel has been questioned on ownership issues, government processes, geopolitics and many other subjects outside the norm for pre- and post-match manager press conferences and former Blues playmaker Cole said he has shown admirable ability to navigate those topics.
“Going back to Tuchel’s leadership, we’ve been through such turbulent times and we’ve seen such poor examples of leadership throughout our society,” Cole said on BT Sport.
“Then you see a football manager stepping up like that, talking like that, doing that and it is just a breath of fresh air.
“He should be Prime Minister.”
The German boss reaffirmed there was “no doubt” he would remain in charge at Stamford Bridge until the end of the season, while flagging that there were too many unknowns to worry about what came next.
“We just have to wait and we still have to go day by day because everything can change.
“But as you know, the situation is clear – the club’s for sale, and hopefully it will go through to sort things out and give us a perspective. And there are hundreds of people who I’m pretty sure worry more than our players and staff, me included.
“And for them it’s important that we show the spirit and give them a bit of a distraction, some hope and show what we are about, and we are about football because we love the game.”
Tuchel also criticised the current prime minister, Boris Johnson, for having “priorities” wrong at a time of crisis, after a spokesperson from the government criticised Chelsea fans for showing support for Abramovich.
