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Comedian David Baddiel has called out the “fake outrage” over Thomas Tuchel’s appointment as the new England manager.
The German coach was officially named as the new Three Lions boss on Wednesday (16 October), replacing Gareth Southgate, who resigned after failing to win last summer’s European Championship in Germany.
Tuchel, who managed Chelsea to Champions League glory in 2021, is the third foreign manager to take charge of England, following in the footsteps of Fabio Capello and Sven-Goran Eriksson, who died earlier this year after a short battle with pancreatic cancer.
The 51-year-old will not start in the job until 2025 but the news has already ignited a debate about another foreign coach managing England, especially due to the nation’s longstanding football rivalry with Germany.
Baddiel, who famously sang “Three Lions”, has called out some of the fury surrounding Tuchel’s arrival after appearing to be trolled due to his Jewish faith.
The 60-year-old said: “Re: Thomas Tuchel and some people’s fake outrage. My mother was born in Nazi Germany and had to flee for her life – I’m OK with it. So f*** off.”
Baddiel also highlighted one user who asked if international managers should coach the nations that they are from. In response, he said: “Were people saying all this during Sven and Capello? Or is just something about a German that brings it out? In which case I refer you back to my original tweet.”
In response to the Tuchel news, former Manchester United and England defender Gary Neville said: “I do think we are damaging ourselves by accepting that Thomas Tuchel is better than any of the other English coaches. With the English coaches that have managed in the upper echelons of the league with Eddie Howe at Newcastle and Graham Potter, I do think there are outstanding coaches that could have been appointed that were English.”
“I’d have given the job to Lee Carsley,” the former England stirker Gary Lineker told The Rest is Football podcast. “I have seen enough to suggest to me the players really trust him.”
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“And he is imaginative enough to produce something that is a joy to watch, is entertaining and front-footed football. I’d have gone for Lee Carsley (but) it is not my job to pick people like that.
“‘I really liked him. But I could tell he knew he was not getting the job. I suspect between his first camp and sometime before the Greece game [he knew].
“I would have [appointed him] because I would have looked at the recent history of international football, the two winners of the last two international tournaments [Spain’s Luis de la Fuente and Argentina’s Lionel Scaloni] had no real experience of coaching outside the national set-up.”
