“Outstanding” candidate – Alan Shearer confirms who the FA did and didn’t speak to before appointing Thomas Tuchel



Thomas Tuchel has now officially been appointed as the new manager of the England national team, and former Three Lions captain, Alan Shearer, has questioned the German’s appointment.

Shearer’s standing and commitment in the game during his time in the Premier League and with the England squad can’t be questioned, so he’s well placed to give his two penneth on why the Football Association have decided to go with Tuchel ahead of any other prospective candidates.

The German becomes only the third foreign coach of the national team after the late Sven Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello, both of whom had varying degrees of success during their tenures.

Shearer’s surprise at who was overlooked ahead of Thomas Tuchel for England

Tuchel has Premier League experience of course and will know a number of the players, however, as we’ve seen so many times in the past, managing England is wholly different to club management.

Danny Mills is another ex-England star who has expressed surprise over Tuchel’s appointent, per Sky Sports on X.

Thomas Tuchel has been announced as the new England manager (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

“It’s happened so quickly, hasn’t it? I mean we said and you said the other day, there’s perhaps a reason why Lee Carsley was ruling himself out because practically that’s what he did,” Shearer said on the Rest is Football podcast.

“[…] I really hope that they have spoken to English managers. I’m told they didn’t speak to Eddie Howe or they didn’t sound him out at all. I’m reliably told, which is a big surprise for me considering he would be the outstanding English candidate.

Gary Lineker also added; “It’s confirmed apparently that they did reach out in the summer to Pep Guardiola. And also I understand that they spoke to Carlo Ancelotti.”

There’s clearly a reason why Howe was overlooked, and perhaps that’s something to do with the fact that Amanda Staveley wants to take him to Tottenham if she’s able to successfully invest in the North Londoners.


 

What’s interesting is that he appears to be the only English candidate available that could be considered to be in the bracket of managers that would be able to take the Three Lions forward.

It’s a damning indictment on what’s been happening at St. Georges Park, and has essentially left the FA with nowhere to go other than to appoint a foreign manager.