Summary

Media caption,

'We have to free ourselves from history' - new England boss Tuchel

  1. 'Tuchel is very close to Guardiola'published at 10:07 British Summer Time

    Thomas Hitzlsperger
    Former Aston Villa midfielder on Planet Premier League

    Thomas Tuchel talks to Pep GuardiolaImage source, Getty Images

    I think Thomas Tuchel is very close to Pep [Guardiola] in the way he thinks about football. Both of them, I think they're still friends, they talk to each other regularly.

    I do believe Thomas Tuchel is a very good manager, but there have been question marks, of course, with some of the people he dealt with in previous clubs. I think that's the only question mark.

    But from a footballing perspective, I do believe that it’s a very, very good appointment.

    Listen to the latest episode of the Planet Premier League podcast in full here.

  2. Postpublished at 10:01 British Summer Time

    If you'd given me one guess at Robert's location, I reckon I'd have had a fair shot of getting it bang on.

  3. get involved

    Get Involvedpublished at 10:00 British Summer Time

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    The entitled English media are convinced Tuchel will win the 2026 World Cup. He won't. Too many of the English players are over hyped and not as good as they think they are. I look forward to Uruguay knocking Enger-land out in the World Cup Quarter finals.

    Robert McLaren, Glasgow

  4. Why did Tuchel get an 18-month contract?published at 09:57 British Summer Time

    BBC Sport has been told Thomas Tuchel thought he might only ever be a club coach - until the idea of having 18 months to deal with knockout games and the chance of winning the World Cup with the group of players that England has was an option too good to turn down.

    The fact Tuchel has only signed his contract for 18 months is understood to be driven by the coach himself.

    Sources told the BBC Tuchel sees the 18 months as a project and that he has a specific idea of how to attack that period of time.

    His knockout record is strong and the fact the World Cup and the qualifiers would have a similar feel plays into the coach's strength of delivering results when it matters.

    After the World Cup, there's a period for both parties to sit down and assess what has happened in the tournament and whether they would like to continue.

    • Read everything there is to know about Tuchel's appointment here
  5. How much is Tuchel being paid?published at 09:51 British Summer Time

    Mark Bullingham told BBC Sport's John Murray that Thomas Tuchel "fitted within" the FA's "really tight salary structure" - in the same way Southgate did on a reported £5m-6m a year.

    A senior FA source told BBC Sport Tuchel is being paid slightly more than Southgate's most recent deal.

    Bullingham said the FA "cannot afford to match the salaries the top clubs pay" but that the talented, young England squad and the structure around it was "something special to offer".

    "To be fair, there were quite a few coaches interested who saw the opportunity way beyond financial measures," said Bullingham.

    "Thomas absolutely bought into that. This is about far more than money for him and the team."

    • Read the full story here
  6. Who were the other candidates?published at 09:46 British Summer Time

    There had been conflicting media reports around the process of recruiting Gareth Southgate's successor. The FA was not guiding journalists either way on specific candidates, which meant speculative reports were published without any official comment from the FA.

    Thomas Tuchel told the BBC the FA first approached him in late August.

    Indeed, there were some reports within the past fortnight that Bullingham and McDermott - who led the recruitment process - had not even spoken to potential candidates such as Howe, Potter and Jurgen Klopp.

    When pressed by BBC Sport's Dan Roan at Thursday's news conference at Wembley, Bullingham said "approximately 10 people", including "English candidates", were interviewed.

    Earlier in the week - just before Tuchel's FA talks were reported - BBC Sport was told by two sources that the FA did make an approach to Guardiola earlier in the summer. Both Manchester City and the FA declined to comment.

    • Read more on Tuchel's appointment here
    Pep Guardiola standing on the sidelineImage source, Getty Images
  7. How did we get here? - The initial approachpublished at 09:43 British Summer Time

    Sources have told BBC Sport that John McDermott met Thomas Tuchel in Munich before a second meeting with Mark Bullingham.

    Bullingham said Tuchel was "always on our target list" and so they made a "proactive approach to speak to him".

    Tuchel said the "idea" was presented by McDermott and Bullingham "very fast, [and] confidential" and in a "very straightforward" way.

    At that point, the FA was still speaking to other people "in the industry", Bullingham said.

    Bullingham added: "He [Tuchel] was outstanding, he gave a really strong presentation, outlined how he felt he could help us win and the chemistry felt really good, and we concluded the partnership quite soon after that."

    Sources have told BBC Sport that there was a real sense of keeping it personal between a group of four to limit the chat over messages.

    • Read more on how Tuchel became England manager here
  8. get involved

    Get Involvedpublished at 09:37 British Summer Time

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    Tom, Manchester: Re 08:33 - Sorry John, but I think that is disrespectful to Lee Carsley. He struggled to answer questions due to trying to keep Tuchel’s appointment confidential. The press really needs to give Carsley some leeway in this regard.

  9. 'Tuchel needs to make some uncomfortable decisions'published at 09:33 British Summer Time

    Andros Townsend
    Antalyaspor midfielder on BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily

    I think his biggest test is, he needs to make some uncomfortable decisions.

    Fortunately we're in a situation where we've got so many good players to choose from that 11 just isn't enough. Maybe in the past we've squeezed players into positions they aren't comfortable in just to get them on the pitch but I think he has to make the uncomfortable decision of sticking to his principles if that's a three at the back or four at the back and fitting the players in to fit the way he wants to play rather than changing his philosophy.

    He's got to lay down the marker straight away. He's a big name and a proven winner so the players are going to listen to him. If he has to drop a Phil Foden, Phil Foden is going to have sit on the bench and that's the way it's going to be.

    These players can see the bigger picture as well which is what they all want to do and that's to win the World Cup.

    You can listen to the full Football Daily podcast here.

  10. Paul Cook deserves praise for spotting Anthony Barry potentialpublished at 09:28 British Summer Time

    Simon Stone
    BBC Sport's chief football news reporter

    England may have a German coach in Thomas Tuchel but they have a home-grown assistant in Anthony Barry.

    It's amazing to think Barry only began his coaching journey with Wigan in 2017, and then it nearly didn't happen.

    Apparently, there was some resistance at the Latics when manager Paul Cook said he wanted to bring in another coach following his arrival from Portsmouth, not least because Barry had no coaching experience.

    But Cook was insistent and Wigan eventually relented.

    Wigan sources say it was evident almost immediately that Barry was an outstanding coach and Cook had made a wise choice.

    Barry subsequently moved to Chelsea, which is where he ended up working with Tuchel.

  11. get involved

    Get Involvedpublished at 09:22 British Summer Time

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    All this xenophobia regarding Tuchel's appointment is very depressing. If he's the best person for the job - and his trophy haul is quite impressive - then great that he's taken the job.

    Martin

  12. Tuchel is 'tactically clever'published at 09:18 British Summer Time

    Newcastle v Brighton (Sat, 15:00 BST)

    Brighton & Hove Albion

    On compatriot Thomas Tuchel being named the new England head coach, Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler said: "Tuchel has skills to build a successful team in a short time. He is tactically clever."

  13. Van Hecke returns for Brightonpublished at 09:15 British Summer Time

    Newcastle v Brighton (Sat, 15:00 BST)

    Brighton & Hove Albion

    Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler says defender Jan Paul van Hecke is available for the trip to Newcastle after recovering from injury. Simon Adingra and Georginio Rutter are also available.

    Adam Webster is out along with longer-term absentees Joao Pedro and Matt O'Riley.

  14. 'He's not afraid to leave big names out'published at 09:11 British Summer Time

    BBC 5 Live Breakfast

    Football writer Henry Winter spoke to BBC 5 Live Breakfast's Rachel Burden and Chris Warburton on how Thomas Tuchel will utilise the England squad: "3-4-3 he plays a lot, but he's also played a back four and he will look at the England players and work out the best system. But also we've seen, particularly, when he was at PSG when he had [Kylian] Mbappe and Neymar, big players like that, he's not afraid to leave big names out.

    "So if a player is underperforming or he feels he can't get all the number 10s in, he will make the right tactical decisions. So, we've got a coach who will go for balance."

  15. Tuchel is a 'great appointment'published at 09:07 British Summer Time

    BBC 5 Live Breakfast

    Football writer Henry Winter spoke to BBC 5 Live Breakfast's Rachel Burden and Chris Warburton on the appointment of Thomas Tuchel as England manager: "I think it's a great appointment but you can admire and appreciate Tuchel coming in, the games are about starters and winners now. It's something that started in Rugby, on the pitch and [Gareth] Southgate's taken it on in terms of football, the team that starts but also you need finishers.

    "We've moved on a stage, it's in the dugouts, Southgate has got a momentum going with England but you just need a finisher, a tactically smarter individual, you know a winner, a tactician like Tuchel to get England over the line, he can do that."

  16. get involved

    Get Involvedpublished at 09:02 British Summer Time

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    Tuchel is the right decision, you have world class players, time to get a world class manager. We tried the young English Manager route with Southgate, it didn't quite work out, time to win a tournament now.

    Zac

  17. 'I don't think Tuchel will care about what anybody says'published at 08:58 British Summer Time

    Nedum Onuoha
    Former Manchester City defender on Planet Premier League

    Thomas Tuchel sitting down at WembleyImage source, Getty Images

    I don't think Thomas Tuchel will care one bit what anybody says, whether it's going to be on this podcast, whether it's going to be, you know, one of the super pundits of English football saying how he needs to change this and change that and I think that that could be quite refreshing.

    Hopefully, it ends up being successful but I think that side of things, I'm sure that for as much as the process has been quite indifferent from the FA, I don't think that should surprise them.

    So as a consequence, I think going to be interesting for everyone else to come to terms with it, because when I hear people like yourself and others discuss it, yeah Tuchel does have a lot to say and doesn't really care what you think about it either.

    Listen to the latest episode of the Planet Premier League podcast in full here.

  18. 'Ideally, you'd have a former professional like Southgate'published at 08:54 British Summer Time

    Thomas Hitzlsperger
    Former Aston Villa midfielder on Planet Premier League

    Thomas Tuchel looks onImage source, Getty Images

    Thomas Tuchel, he's another manager who's never had a career as a player, and I'd say about ten years ago, football in Germany’s changed because more of these guys who didn't have a big career got into big coaching jobs.

    Julian Nagelsmann, Thomas Tuchel are probably the most prominent ones. Domenico Tedesco is another one who is now the national team manager of Belgium. And the way they analyse football, the way they talk about it is very different and you can imagine how sceptical the German audience was listening to these guys, and they have managed to overcome that resistance to go to the very top. And I think it's similar in this country.

    Ideally, you have a former professional England player like Gareth Southgate or, you know, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, all these guys who have done tremendous good jobs as players and then representing your country, but that’s not the case.

    Listen to the latest episode of the Planet Premier League podcast in full here.

  19. The return of the Premier Leaguepublished at 08:48 British Summer Time

    As well as discussion of the new England manager, we will also be looking ahead to the return of Premier League action this weekend following the international break.

    We have several media conferences today, here's when we expect to hear from the managers (all times BST)...

    09:00: Brighton manager Fabien Hurzeler

    10:00: Leicester manager Steve Cooper

    13:00: Southampton boss Russell Martin and West Ham coach Julen Lopetegui

    13:45: Everton manager Sean Dyche

    15:00: Brentford manager Thomas Frank

  20. How did we get here? - The job advert in Julypublished at 08:43 British Summer Time

    Dan Roan
    BBC sports editor

    The job advert published in July said the FA wanted someone with "significant experience of English football, with a strong track record delivering results in the Premier League and/or leading international competitions".

    That appeared to leave the door open for Newcastle boss Eddie Howe, former Brighton and Chelsea head coach Graham Potter and U21 European Championship-winning boss Lee Carsley. But with the FA always making clear it was open to appointing a foreign manager, the feeling was a big international name was the preferred option.

    The reality is there are only three English head coaches in the Premier League, plus out-of-work Potter. The homegrown choices were limited.

    Questions have been asked of what Thomas Tuchel's appointment means for the St George's Park pathway of developing young British coaches, and whether there is a shortage of elite managers.

    Mark Bullingham put it simply: "We wanted to get the very best for the job".

    • Read the full story here