Leicester City manager Steve Cooper says he believes in Britain’s culture and coaching pathway following Thomas Tuchel’s appointment as England head coach.
German Tuchel, 51, was confirmed as the next Three Lions boss on Wednesday and will become only the third non-British manager of the England men’s team when he starts in the role on 1 January.
English candidates were among “approximately 10” people interviewed for the job, says the Football Association, but former England defender Gary Neville called the decision “damaging” for homegrown coaches.
“Hopefully over the course of time British coaching will continue to improve and we will be right up there with the world’s best,” said Welshman Cooper, who led England to victory at the Under-17 World Cup in 2017.
“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.”
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said on Wednesday England are “not in that place” to have several homegrown managers in contention for the national team job but insisted the national coaching system is a success.
“I think any federation in the world that is looking to hire a senior manager, clearly you would love to have five to 10 domestic candidates who are coaching clubs in your domestic league, challenging and winning honours in your domestic league and European football,” said Bullingham.
“We are not quite in that place at the moment.”
Former Chelsea manager Tuchel replaces Gareth Southgate, who resigned after eight years in charge following England’s Euro 2024 final defeat by Spain in July.
Like Southgate, interim manager Lee Carsley has progressed through the FA’s coaching development system at St George’s Park – but he will return to lead the England Under-21s after overseeing November’s Nations League fixtures.
Tuchel’s assistant is Englishman Anthony Barry, with whom he has worked at Chelsea and Bayern Munich
“Our pathway is really strong, both from a coaches and players’ point of view. There are a lot of fantastic young coaches around and obviously Anthony is one of those,” Bullingham said.
“We have got to keep helping our young coaches to get the best opportunities they can and to get them good opportunities at clubs. We would love to have more English coaches managing in the Premier League, for example.”
The FA said it was looking for a coach with “a strong track record delivering results in the Premier League and/or leading international competitions” following Southgate’s resignation.
Former Manchester United captain Neville, speaking on Sky Sports, agreed Tuchel fit that criteria and said England had “probably got the best available coach in the world”.
However, Neville added: “I am not sure 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.
“I think there are serious questions for the FA to answer in respect of English coaching. I do think we are damaging ourselves accepting Tuchel is better than any of the other English coaches.”
Former England and Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said: “I’m not the most patriotic of people, [and feel] the England manager has to be this or that.
“It’s not about England. It’s international football. The whole point of it, certainly with the major nations who compete for titles, is it’s our best versus their best.”
