On the way out of Wembley following the shambolic defeat to Greece, a rowdy supporter on my Metropolitan Line train was telling anyone in earshot that “Irishman Lee Carsley” had no business being England manager. So just wait until he finds out who the FA have picked instead!
If Carsley, who was born in Birmingham to English parents but represented Ireland as a player, is not English enough for some fans, the appointment of German Thomas Tuchel will presumably outrage the minority of supporters still regularly chanting about the Second World War and gleefully inserting “no surrender” (to whom?) into the national anthem.
Tuchel is the third foreign coach in the team’s history after Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italian Fabio Capello, but the first to hail from one of our great footballing rivals.
Good on the FA, then, for disregarding the little Englanders and appointing the candidate who most obviously fits the job description of a world-class coach with a history of winning major honours and a deep understanding of the English game, irrespective of his Germanness.
That is not to say it is irrelevant that Tuchel is not English, just that it should not be at all relevant that he is German.
Once you accept the premise that it is OK for national teams to be managed by a foreign coach, it should hardly matter where they are from.
That premise, though, remains controversial because being able to appoint a foreign coach undermines the very concept of international football, which should be ‘our best against your best’.
The beauty of the international game, particularly compared to increasingly predictable club fare, is the necessity to be innovative. If a team does not have a suitable No9 - or too many No10s - the federation cannot buy a solution; coaches must think outside the box, so being able to hire one of the world’s best managers for £5million a year, feels like cheating.
It is also a sorry indictment of English football that not only have the FA appointed a foreign coach, but one who is obviously more qualified than any homegrown candidate.
“A world-class coach with a history of winning major honours “
How can English football have so many elite players, but not a single truly world-class manager (with the greatest respect to Eddie Howe and Graham Potter, among others)?
There is also the question of the ‘England DNA’, proudly unveiled by Dan Ashworth, the FA’s former director of elite development, and Gareth Southgate at St George’s Park a decade ago.
The aim was to establish a pathway for players and coaches through the FA’s system, while ingraining a defined national identity and playing style.
Appointing Tuchel is arguably a betrayal of that approach, but Tuchel is not Capello, who showed no inclination for immersing himself in English football culture.
Will he be able to tap into the national psyche and build a team with a uniquely English identity and connection to supporters, as Southgate did so well?
Of course, none of this will really matter if Tuchel can win a trophy for England, although there would be an amusing irony in a German leading the side to a first World Cup since 1966 in 18 months’ time.
No one cared that Sarina Wiegman, who led the Lionesses to the Euros in 2022, is Dutch because she built such a connection with players and fans.
And perhaps this, as much as anything else, is Tuchel’s challenge, to ensure he builds on Southgate’s legacy by maintaining the bonds and culture built over the past seven years, as well as the distinct identity of the team - even if the football is more tactically-astute.
If Tuchel can do that, even the most one-eyed England fans might occasionally forget he is German.
