SILLY ELLIOTT
In the wake of an end-of-season senior international break during which England could scarcely have looked more underwhelming, a penny for the current thoughts of those Football Association blazers who decided to appoint Thomas Tuchel as Sir(!) Gareth Southgate’s replacement following Lee Carsley’s six-month interim spell in charge. While it’s probably safe to say a chimp with a tactics board could navigate England’s passage through the qualifiers to next summer’s World Cup finals, Tuchel has been hired at great expense on a short-term contract with the sole target of lifting the trophy next summer. When the inevitable handwringing starts (should he fail to do so), folk will want to know to know exactly why a “forrin” – and a German one at that – with a penchant for being difficult and precisely no international management experience got the job ahead of an oven-ready homegrown replacement who seems seriously clued-in when it comes to excelling at summer kickabouts.
