Rumor: Next England Manager Thread Discussion

I just can’t imagine someone of Potter’s status actually applying and filling in an application form etc. Rather than just waiting to be contacted.

 

Unless they really think Pep is a runner, its hard to see what's gained by letting the Carsley interim spell run beyond tomorrow, with his views on taking the job now public.

Surely next week is cards on table time where you make a play for Howe ( if you can afford it), approach Tuchel, or almost reluctantly accept that it'll have to be Potter.

Unless it's been playing for time with Guardiola all along...

 

Per @MiguelDelaney

-The weekend’s reports of talks with Thomas Tuchel are meanwhile seen as an attempt by those close to the German to put pressure on Manchester United, who have an interest if they do sack Erik ten Hag.

— UnitedRedReport (@UnitedRedReport) October 12, 2024

 

I don’t really understand how the fa has managed to drag this out so long when there’s such a limited pool of candidates in the first place. When you narrow down people who were available, experienced in English football, meet the salary requirements, are somewhat desirable as manager, and would actually be interested in the job you are left with what would probably be a single digit number of people. How long could it possibly take to review them. Particularly when it was known for so long beforehand Southgate would almost certainly step down so it can hardly have come as a shock.

It seems the fa preferred to take the path of least resistance and just hoped that carsley would repeat southgates transition into the job and now are left looking very complacent and frankly incompetent. Using 1/3 of our games before World Cup 2026 on a pointless caretaker period.

i wouldn’t be surprised gif we now rush an appointment in the next couple of weeks given the awkward position Carsley is now in.

 

Tbf, we might as well make the appointment in the next couple of weeks if we can. There's no denying the FA have bolloxed this up but at this stage it feels like there are only two candidates that are both good and realistic - Potter and Tuchel.

The worst thing they can do is try to drag it out until next year and go for Pep imo. I don't think Pep is impossible but I don't think he's at all likely and we simply can't afford to waste that much time. If we want an appointment of that mould, Tuchel is both more realistic and more likely to be successful at international level anyway imo. I still think Tuchel wants the Man Utd job first and foremost but I do think he's much more gettable than Pep.

Otherwise, just give it to Potter and see what happens. Plenty to be sceptical about with Potter but plenty to be positive about too. I just can't see anyone else other than those two.

 

In theory Pep could be signed well before the end of the season with him joining afterwards and Carsley or another interim being in postion until then.

 

https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.c...nd-manager-with-pep-guardiola-also-an-option/
According to L’Équipe, Thomas Tuchel is now the leading candidate to become the new England manager.

Graham Potter’s stance as a candidate is considered weak, and Eddie Howe doesn’t want to leave Newcastle. The former Chelsea and PSG boss’s availability without a club makes him much easier to appoint.

L’Équipe understands that Manchester City manager Guardiola is also being considered for the vacant post. However, the Spanish coach’s contract at the Etihad Stadium does not expire until June. Carsley could be kept in his position as interim coach until June to allow the FA to appoint the former Barcelona boss.

 

That's still a terrible idea. A) It would be a waste of a cycle because it would give 7-8 months for Pep to prepare for the World Cup. B) What if Carsley doesn't want to be interim manager? What if he also isn't any good at this level, which he very well might not be, and by the time Pep arrives we're in a poor position in the WC qualification table? C) They'd still have to get that sewn up very quickly in the next month or so (which is unrealistic) to avoid the likelihood of a disastrous situation. If they wait too much longer, Tuchel won't be available, and a PL team would probably make a move for Potter. What happens if we get to March and we have no manager, and Pep doesn't want it and Tuchel and Potter aren't free?

 

If we don’t top our group we don’t start World Cup qualifying until September. If we top the group then we start in March and will have had three or four matches by September

In which case the FA would probably try for O’Neil and McKenna and then if not just go for Lampard.

 

Would Pep Guardiola manage England? There may never be a better time to ask
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5838293/2024/10/13/pep-guardiola-england-manager/

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Three months have passed since Gareth Southgate announced he was leaving the England job — and it appears we are no closer to knowing the identity of his full-time successor.

After comfortable victories for the 2024 European Championship finalists over nations ranked 62nd (Republic of Ireland) and 64th (Finland) in the world, the tide surged perplexingly quickly towards an assumption that interim manager Lee Carsley, a man with no experience of managing top-level players, should and would be promoted from his position leading England Under-21s.

Now, after a hapless 2-1 home defeat against 48th-ranked Greece on Thursday, the expectation is that Carsley has blown his chances.

You would hope the FA is not working along the same extreme lines of hot-cold opinions based on these Nations League games, but, if they have not even interviewed anyone else yet, well, draw your own conclusions there. Carsley, for his part, said on Saturday he had not formally applied to be Southgate’s successor.

To be fair to the people in charge at the association, if they felt there was no viable external candidate, seeing what Carsley could do in fairly low-risk fixtures made sense, given that finding a successor from within St George’s Park would clearly be preferable as a justification for the investment and structures put in place there.

It worked with Southgate, who himself stepped up from the under-21s in 2016 after the one-game Sam Allardyce era, to a large extent; in terms of tournament results, he was England’s best manager for almost 60 years and took the team, with the aid of a burgeoning and increasingly talented pool of players, to heights that did not seem possible a decade ago.

Ultimately, Southgate fell short of achieving what he and the country wanted, ending the long wait to win a tournament again. What was the primary reason for that? Tactical shortcomings.

As players such as Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane and Declan Rice went up in the world, earning big moves to higher levels with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Arsenal, they overtook Southgate, who lacked the knowledge to blend them and Phil Foden, or Jack Grealish, or Cole Palmer into a cohesive attacking unit.

Southgate had many other strengths, but in terms of nailing a playing style that best suited the stars he was blessed with, he came up short, be that failing to unlock the best from Foden or Trent Alexander-Arnold, or being too cautious with his tactical approach or his substitutions.

When looking for a successor to take on what Southgate built and move it up the level required to beat the likes of Spain, France and Italy by playing, not by pragmatism or by trying to stifle the opposition, England need someone who has a high level of football intelligence; preferably somebody with a track record of winning trophies and who would command the instant respect of the players.

And, you know, if that person knows the English game inside out, is out of contract next summer and happens to be one of the greatest managers of all time, even better.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

I mean, would Pep Guardiola genuinely take the England job? Even, say, for one year, post-Manchester City and just for the World Cup in 2026?

“I have to decide what I want to do with my life,” Guardiola said in August when asked about then managerless England. “Do I want to continue here? Take a break? National teams or not? Many things.” Well, that’s not a no.

With the exit of City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain next summer revealed by The Athletic and with Guardiola having won it all during his eight years in charge at the Etihad, it does feel like the end of an era is approaching.

Guardiola, who has essentially completed England, Germany and Spain with City, Bayern Munich and Barcelona, may be tempted by the challenge of resolving one of world football’s most difficult conundrums — leading England to their first trophy in almost six decades.

After 11 consecutive seasons with Bayern and City, the lighter demands of international football could also appeal. As could the size of the challenge — ie, something achievable that doesn’t require reinventing the wheel.

Guardiola was announced as Bayern’s next manager at a time when they had finished third and second domestically in the two preceding seasons. City came second and fourth in the two years before he moved to Manchester. That is the history of a manager who likes the idea of taking a good but imperfect team and making them winners.

England have made it to at least the last eight of their past four tournaments and two finals in three, so they don’t need a revolution either; Guardiola may feel that, for a year’s work with these players, it is within his capabilities to win the World Cup, one of the crowning achievements of any manager’s career.

Would the FA pay up? Guardiola is reported to earn £20million ($26.1m) a year, whereas Southgate was said to earn around £5m per annum. Meeting in the middle may require the FA to double its offering and for Guardiola to halve his. Feels unlikely.

And then there is the question of whether the FA would want another non-English manager. Guardiola compares favourably to the two foreign managers England have appointed in the past, with neither Sven-Goran Eriksson nor Fabio Capello having anywhere near as a good a record, but more importantly, they had to acclimatise to English football’s culture, especially our media. Not an issue for Guardiola.

It is worth pointing out that the path of a non-native manager leading a country to tournament glory is not a well-trodden one.

Every single World Cup-winning manager has come from the nation that lifted the trophy. Of the 17 European Championships, only Otto Rehhagel (from Germany) won it with another country, Greece in 2004.

And of the Copa America’s 19 playings since the mid-1970s, when South America’s continental tournament was rebranded, 17 have been won by native managers, with Chile the exceptions in 2015 and 2016 when they were managed by Argentina’s Jorge Sampaoli and Argentine-born Spaniard Juan Antonio Pizzi respectively.

The Africa Cup of Nations is the obvious exception, with only 17 of its 34 tournament-winning managers hailing from the country concerned.

As England have experienced with Rice and Grealish ‘joining’ them from the Republic of Ireland, and Wilfried Zaha switching to Ivory Coast, the lines of nationality in international football are becoming more blurred. Would it actually mean anything that Guardiola isn’t English?

England’s cricket team won the Ashes in 2005 with a Zimbabwean (Duncan Fletcher) and the 2019 World Cup with an Australian (Trevor Bayliss) as their coach, and it is hard to imagine any English cricket fan celebrated those successes any less because of the nationality of the coach, ditto the Irishman Eoin Morgan being the captain for the latter.

While it would be preferable from the FA’s point of view to hire from within, or appoint an Englishman, if the best person for the job is neither of those things, it would be foolish or one-eyed were it not to expand its limited pool of options.

Copying the successful Spain-Luis de la Fuente or Argentina-Lionel Scaloni models is fine if you have managers and coaches worthy of the top job via a well-honed setup, but England as a nation does not have a history of producing the brightest and best revolutionary coaches in football. Far from it.

Since the 1992-93 season, just six per cent of Premier League titles, FA Cups and EFL Cups combined have been won by English managers. In that same period, 12 per cent of Premier League titles, FA Cups and EFL Cups combined have been won by Guardiola.

Yes, he has had the money to spend, but his managerial capabilities and tactical nous are undeniable. He would be, by some distance, the best manager ever to take the England job.

Is there a world in which this all works? Maybe not, but for the love of God, ask the guy the question.

The FA tried for Jose Mourinho in 2007, and went for Arsene Wenger in 2016.

If it didn’t go for Guardiola should he be out of contract next year… well, it is part of the problem.

 

I feel in my lifetime the only coach who can lead England to victory is Pep. Otherwise, I don't see England winning the WC or Euros ever. Tuchel is a good shout. He is good at tournaments.

 

Tuchel ticks all the boxes
-Won big trophies
-Knows English football
-Known for his tactical preparation work

But in every job he has fallen out with people because of his demanding approach.
Abit like Mourinho. I would not be disappointed if he got hired.
If you really want an English I would take Potter.

 

Nobody with a serious opinion talks in such extreme absolutes.

 

Tuchel’s playing style is not particularly known for its entertaining qualities which while possibly a Tournament winning one will mean a lot of dull matches to watch before the big tests.

 

You always explain the negative aspects of every managerial candidate but I don't think I've once seen you point out a potential positive. Let's try not to be so miserable!

 

Don't be such a pessimist. Obviously Lampard is the no 1 candidate, you just know it.

 

I sometimes browser the Three lions Reddit page (don't bother it's a mess). There was guy who was convinced Lampard was next manager after the Greece match, that has to be Fireburn (I jest), as I can't believe two people in the country share that view!

 

Lee Carsley’s decision puts pressure on FA to make a spectacular appointment
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...y-england-manager-fa-spectacular-appointment/

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Now the cheap, convenient solution is off the table, the heat is on John McDermott and Mark Bullingham to find a convincing candidate.

Now we know it is not going to be Lee Carsley. Now there is a little more clarity as to who the next England manager will be. Or rather will not be.

In fairness to the Football Association, it never said that the six ties of this autumn Nations League campaign were an audition to see whether Carsley could make the step up to the senior job. The FA never said it was his to lose and he never said he actually wanted it.

If, as now expected, Carsley goes back to the under-21s next month, he should be thanked for helping out as he was asked to do. He was acting dutifully and is clearly a decent man and an admired development coach.

It is absolutely his prerogative not to want to be England manager but it does raise the issue as to why not? And – rather pertinently – should the FA even have a head coach for the 21s, however good and successful he is (and Carsley won the European Championship), who does not want to be part of a succession plan?

The FA has insisted it would run a thorough process to find Gareth Southgate’s successor and that Carsley was the interim solution. And that the process would remain confidential.

Fair enough. But, at the same time, the FA must also have hoped that Carsley might quickly grow into it and would want it, therby emulating the successful route of both the world champions (Argentina – who promoted Lionel Scaloni) and the European champions (Spain – who moved up Luis de la Fuente).

It would have been seamless and a ringing endorsement of the FA’s coaching pathway and of the work of St George’s Park and – let us be honest – would have been an easier and cheaper solution.

Now we must hope that the FA’s technical director, John McDermott, and chief executive, Mark Bullingham, have been working diligently behind the scenes and have their plan in place even if it is a surprise – as reported by Telegraph Sport on Friday – that they have not formally interviewed any of the leading candidates.

It raises the question: what are they waiting for? More worryingly, it also raises the fear – who actually wants it? The deadline for applications was August 2 – just two weeks after the Euros final (why so early?) although the FA insists it was never a hard deadline. After all, Carsley did not even apply. We now know why.

We also know there has been a shortlist, regularly updated and even when Southgate was in charge, which McDermott oversees.

And we know the basic criteria:

1. It does not have to be an English manager but it does have to be someone who is an Anglophile (ie. he has worked in England before, speaks the language, knows the players). They will not parachute in someone as happened with Fabio Capello in 2008.
2. The top salary that can be offered is £4-5 million which is at the lower end of what a Premier League manager would receive and therefore it needs to be a young coach on the up or an older one who wants to go into international football or one for whom money is less important at present.
3. It has to be a manager who is a good man-manager and sets the culture. Improving players is not high on the remit as they will not have enough time with them to do that.
4. And it also has to be someone who can handle the scrutiny, exposure and the ambassadorial nature of the role (although that is less easily definable).

Appointing Carsley as interim was logical and also bought the FA time. Time will now tell how the FA has used that time. The clock is ticking. The World Cup draw – which presumably Carsley will still attend – takes place in December in Switzerland. After that we will know if England’s qualification campaign kicks off in March, June or September although it may be complicated if they go into a Nations League play-off unless they can overhaul Greece.

The fact is the FA’s plan means it must now deliver something spectacular when it announces the appointment of the next England manager. The process it has chosen demands it. The heat is on McDermott and Bullingham otherwise they can be accused of simply buying themselves time.

We know it will not be Mauricio Pochettino, as he is now the head coach of the United States men’s team. There is uncertainty over Newcastle United’s Eddie Howe. Graham Potter is out of work and available but, again, seems to prefer to go back into club management.

Ange Postecoglou is on McDermott’s list, and has been tracked since he was coaching in Japan, but even if the Australian was interested it would be extremely expensive to extricate him from his contract at Tottenham Hotspur. We know Thomas Tuchel is interested but would he be the right fit? Is he affordable? Do the FA still want him? (The German was a strong candidate had Southgate walked after the last World Cup.)

And then there is the dream appointment of Pep Guardiola, but even if he wanted it there is no way, surely, before the end of the season. So does Carsley carry on? What if the FA cannot get its man before March? Is the governing body treading water?

There is another possibility. The FA may have someone completely left-field up their sleeve, as it did with Ralf Rangnick, whom it spoke to before Sam Allardyce briefly followed Roy Hodgson in 2016.

Whoever it is, it has to be a convincing, impressive appointment. That is for sure now. The time it is taking demands that. The job demands that. The FA’s approach demands it. We know it is not Carsley and maybe now that news is out it may even come as a relief to him.

The FA never said it was a shoo-in; never said it was his to lose. It has been consistent in that. But there must, also, be a pang of regret that it is not Carsley. And not least because of the pressure it is under to deliver.

 

I honestly think I'd struggle to bother caring about the national team if Lampard is hired. It would be an absolute travesty of an appointment.

 

Did he vote Labour?

 

If those criteria are genuinely what the FA are conducting the process on then why do the Telegraph keep banging on about Guardiola? He's not going to go from £20m per year to £5m per year in salary. Maybe at a different stage in his career but not right now.