Everton boss Sean Dyche believes new England manger Thomas Tuchel is “right for the job” but says many within the game would have preferred the appointment of an English coach.
The highly-rated German was named national team manager on Wednesday, with the Champions League-winning former Chelsea boss signing an 18-month deal.
Tuchel will lead England into the 2026 World Cup and Dyche, who confirmed he was not one of the candidates the Football Association interviewed, called him a “very, very good manager.”
The Kettering-born former Burnley boss said: “Like most, I spent all my life watching English football and been a part of it.
Thomas Tuchel. Our #ThreeLions head coach from 2025. 🏴
— England (@England) October 16, 2024
“I think most would have liked an English coach – that is the general theme I get from people I have spoken to in the game – and the viewpoint from the masses it seems.
“The game is diversifying all the time and he is someone who is right for the job and clearly has a record of someone who suggests he can do the job, that is for sure.
“Results will be important for obvious reasons but they always are if you are manager of England.”
Asked if it was disheartening for those managers coming through to see the FA go for a non-British coach, Dyche said: “I don’t think it is disheartening, I think it is the reality of the modern game. Each pathway doesn’t always lead where you want it to.
“You can only suggest from history – certainly my history of the FA – in theory the idea was to fast-track certain members, get them through the system and create that platform for coaches going into the system for managing the country.
“Football management and the view of it has changed so much, they have obviously looked at it differently.
“At the end of the day, all of us want to win. That sometimes gets lost in modern football – how are going to do this? How are you going to do that? But what about winning?
“I don’t think he’ll (Tuchel) be under any illusions as manager. Forget about nationalities, he’ll know he has been put in there to try and win.
“Because Gareth Southgate did an amazing job, in my opinion, a fantastic job in many different ways of his job but we didn’t win.
“So can we go on and take it to the next level? That is going to be his biggest challenge, beyond all the noise, to try and win something.”
Leicester manager Steve Cooper was part of the FA pathway, with the Welshman leading England to Under-17 World Cup glory in 2017.
“Hopefully over the course of time British coaching will continue to improve and we will be right up there with the world’s best,” he said.
“In the meantime any opportunity we are given we have to take them and do a good job. Until we do that on a regular basis maybe we shouldn’t say so much.
“I really believe in British culture, I believe in the coaching education pathway as well.”
Julen Lopetegui, the former Spain boss now in charge of West Ham, says Tuchel will find national team pressures similar to life as a club manager.
When asked if he has a piece of advice for the new England boss, Lopetegui said: “No, no, no, he’s smart and experienced. He’s going to be ready for England and for him.”
“The level of English coaches is very good. But it’s not my job to choose. It’s the FA who chose Thomas Tuchel. I have no word on this.”
As for Fabian Hurzeler, the 31-year-old Brighton boss is full of admiration for his fellow German and thinks Tuchel has the “special skill” to build a successful team in a short period of time.
“I like people who are self-confident and have a clear vision, a clear goal,” he said. “It will be interesting.
“We have in Germany a good coach with (Julian) Nagelsmann and I think we have now a very good coach also for the English federation.
“They will be for sure two nations who will fight, who will compete to be world champions.
“I know there are other good countries and nations competing but, with these two German coaches, I think the percentage is high that one of them might win the World Cup.”
