England announced the appointment of Thomas Tuchel as the men’s national team new manager on Wednesday, and now a list of shortlisted bosses has been revealed.
Tuchel is set to officially start as England manager from January 1, 2025, meaning Lee Carsley will remain in interim charge of the side for their final two Nations League games in November.
The FA started looking for Gareth Southgate’s replacement in July following the Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain, and now Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer have revealed who was – and wasn’t – contacted over the vacancy.
England failed to consider ‘outstanding English candidate’
Discussing the FA’s hunt for a new manager, Shearer highlighted his surprise over the speed in which Tuchel signed his contract with England, with concrete links only emerging on Tuesday.
“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.
The Newcastle United legend then proceeded to drop a shock revelation over Eddie Howe, and how he wasn’t contacted about the role.
“I really hope that they have spoken to English managers,” Shearer added. “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.”
Lineker then highlighted that, despite Howe not being considered for the job, a couple of Champions League-winning managers were certainly in contention.
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“It’s confirmed apparently that they did reach out in the summer to Pep Guardiola,” Lineker said. “And also I understand that they spoke to Carlo Ancelotti.”
While snubbing Howe entirely seems a strange decision, FA CEO Mark Bullingham highlighted that they wanted a manager with a proven track record of winning things. Howe has only ever lifted the Championship trophy as manager.
“Fundamentally we wanted to hire a coaching team to give us the best possible chance of winning a major tournament, and we believe they will do just that,” Bullingham said when unveiling Tuchel. “Thomas and the team have a single-minded focus on giving us the best possible chance to win the World Cup in 2026.
