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Eddie Howe has confirmed he was not interviewed or even contacted for the England job, despite the head of the Football Association claiming 10 candidates were spoken to before appointing Thomas Tuchel.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham claimed at Tuchel’s unveiling that he and technical director John McDermott interviewed 10 managers, including some from England, before they settled on the German.
Howe was the leading English candidate for the job after returning Newcastle to the Champions League. The 46-year-old is one of only three English managers in the Premier League, along with Sean Dyche and Gary O’Neil.
However, no contact was made between Howe and the FA, with the manager stating he would have preferred to see an English coach take the top job despite praising Tuchel’s character.
“Firstly, speaking about Thomas himself, I’ve got a relationship with Thomas. I was lucky to see him work at Chelsea when I was out of work,” Howe said.
“What a brilliant guy, what a great person, what a great coach. I had two days with him and I thought he was fascinating and great company. I wish him well and I think it’s a great appointment. I hope he leads England to many trophies.
“I have always said, going back years, that my preference would have been for an English coach. But if you are going to go foreign, you go for one of the best and I certainly think Thomas is one of them.”
A report in the Daily Mail claimed Howe was not considered for the role due to the £6m compensation the FA would have to pay Newcastle to hire the English coach.
Howe said he was not distracted by the England job and said his focus remained on Newcastle throughout the recruitment process that followed Gareth Southgate’s resignation.
“Absolutely not, England have to do what is right for them and only they will know the processes they went through and the decisions that have been made,” he added.
“For me, it’s about Newcastle, it’s about trying to win games and it’s hard enough trying to do that if you’re 100 per cent focussed.
“I will always remain that way to my work. If you drop your levels of focus, the job becomes impossible. At no stage have I allowed myself to do that.”
Howe, however, said he would not rule himself out from managing England one day.
“Who knows? I’ve always said that you can never predict what’s going to happen in management, you can never plan too far ahead. I certainly don’t,” Howe said.
“I’m a day-to-day planner, while certainly acknowledging that Newcastle - I’ve always said this - has a future and we have to make sure we make the right decisions long term.
“But the job takes so many twists and turns, you can’t look too far ahead. I think that’s negative, actually, if you do that, so in terms of my own career and what’s five, 10 years ahead, I don’t know, I’ve got no idea.
“But I’d never say that managing England isn’t something I’d like to do maybe one day if given the opportunity, but my focus is Newcastle, Newcastle, Newcastle.”
