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Gary Neville believes the FA have “serious questions to answer” following the appointment of Thomas Tuchel as England’s new head coach.
The German has been named as Gareth Southgate’s successor after signing an 18-month contract with the Three Lions, which will begin on January 1, with interim boss Lee Carsley overseeing the remainder of the ongoing Nations League campaign.
A Champions League winner with Chelsea and league title winner with Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, Tuchel becomes only the third non-English coach to take charge of the national side after Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello.
Neville, who was capped 85 times by the Three Lions between 1995 and 2007, is in no doubt of the quality the 51-year-old will bring to the role.
However, the former defender believes the FA have acted on instinct by giving the job to an international manager, whilst overlooking the likes of Eddie Howe and Graham Potter.
“They probably got the best available coach in the world at this moment in time,” Neville told Sky Sports News. “Fitting that criteria, they are absolutely spot on.
“I am not sure if it meets the criteria of St George’s Park and the belief in English coaches, and the growth in the English teams’ performances over the last few years.
“Not just the men’s, but the women’s and the youth teams as well. St George’s Park was going to be a hotbed of proving that English coaches could get back to the top of European football.
“It doesn’t feel like a strategic decision, it feels like an instinctive one off the back of what’s happened in the last two weeks.
— England (@England) October 16, 2024
“Everybody in our country, including myself, will wish him all the best and hope we can get over the line and win a trophy, but I think there are some serious questions for the FA to answer in respect of English coaching.
“I do think we are damaging ourselves by accepting Thomas Tuchel is better than any of the other English coaches. We are in a rut when it comes to English coaching.
“English coaching is one of the least respected big nations in Europe when it comes to taking charge of a football team. Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese coaches are renowned for their styles of play, for their philosophy.
“We don’t have a clear identity as an English nation of what we are any more. We haven’t built a style, we haven’t got a coach who’s built a style that’s unique to us.”
England reached successive European Championship finals under Gareth Southgate, but suffered heartbreaking defeats at the hands of Italy and Spain.
And former Three Lions captain Alan Shearer – in contrast to Neville – thinks the FA have done the right thing by hiring a proven winner in a bid to end the nation’s long wait for silverware.
“We need a trophy – it’s as simple as that. We need a manager who can deliver that,” Shearer told The Rest Is Football podcast.
“There’s no doubt [Tuchel] has an incredible CV, but this is going to be a very different test for him. It’s a bold move from the FA, there’s no doubt about it.
“You have to win the tournament, that’s what he’s been hired for. They [the FA] have seen the bunch of players are the best England have had for a long, long time.”