Thomas Tuchel receives emphatic England verdict as Harry Redknapp rant misses the point

A German is the new manager of .

, the -winning former boss, has been , kicking off in January when he succeeds interim manager . Available following his acrimonious exit from back in May, Tuchel will be tasked with ending 60 years of hurt by winning the next in the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2026.

The 51-year-old knows how to win trophies at club level and be successful with elite players, but that isn't enough to please everyone. Some, like , argue that , while others see Tuchel's appointment as a betrayal of the era and the FA's coaching pathway.

In a special edition of the Big Debate, we asked the Mirror Football team the big question - is Tuchel the right man for England?

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John Cross

Thomas Tuchel is a great choice for England. He is fun, super smart, a ball of energy and this job means he cannot even fall out with a club's hierarchy over transfers! Tuchel is an Anglophile who loved England, English culture and London during his time at Chelsea.

He is also a great coach, strong person and has a track record of winning, proved by leading Chelsea to the European Cup. Of course the dream ticket is to appoint an Englishman for England. Would Germany appoint an English manager? Of course not. This is also an admission that the FA are not producing English coaches. What a sorry state of affairs.

Also, by admitting that Tuchel signed on October 8, you are saying that you hung poor old Lee Carsley out to dry to answer questions and humiliate him. So the process has been far from ideal when you consider that it could only have been completed when Anthony Barry signed up to be a coach after Portugal's game on Tuesday night.

But after flirting with a few, making it a long process, they have ended up with the best available candidate.

David Anderson

Short of the dream options of , or , which were unobtainable, Thomas Tuchel probably represents the best choice out there. He's a winner and knows English football from his time at Chelsea.

He's also an excellent tactician and Klopp marvelled how he could switch tactics several times in games to cause problems. The big downside is he's combustible and the FA have hired a ticking time bomb. They clearly believe he can take the final step with England and win the World Cup in 2026.

But given his short time at Borussia Dortmund, , Chelsea and Bayern Munich, it's debatable if he will still be around for Euro 2028, which will be hosted in the UK and Ireland. That's his main drawback and he has fallen out with people since he was a player.

It cost him his job at Chelsea and he went the year after lifting football's holy grail, the Champions League in 2021. But the plus is he’s the sort of world-class coach England need to carry them to success. It shouldn't be dull, however long it lasts, so fans should buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Get involved! Is Thomas Tuchel the right man for England? Have your say in the .

Neil McLeman

Thomas Tuchel isn’t the first choice to be England manager - but right now he is the best choice. A homegrown coach, Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp would have been the preferred options.

But the FA's wish for a 'world-class coach' effectively ruled out Eddie Howe, Graham Potter and Lee Carsley. And as it was impossible for the Catalan to declare he would leave in mid-season - and Klopp has taken another job - the appointment of the other German makes sense.

The question is: Are England more likely to win the World Cup with Thomas Tuchel in charge? And the answer is yes. The former Blues coach is not well-known for youth development - and he has a history of falling out with the bosses of his clubs at Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich.

But England need a tactically sophisticated coach to final step to winning a major trophy. He can make decisive changes during matches - and he is liked by the players.

It is not a long-term appointment but 18 months is enough to get to know his squad and launch a bid for the 2026 World Cup. If he can get the same luck of the draw as Gareth Southgate in big tournaments, England have a real chance.

Simon Mullock

Thomas Tuchel isn't afraid to shoot from the lip - and perhaps that's exactly the kind of manager England needs to control a dressing room full of big players and even bigger egos. The German has fallen out with his bosses at virtually every club he has managed and has never been afraid to point the finger of blame at any individual he feels has let him down on the pitch.

Mr Nice Guy, he isn't. But what's that saying about nice guys and finishing second? Gareth Southgate never solved the problem of losing his legs. He couldn't come up with a tactical plan to get the very best out of , , and - and too often it was square pegs rammed into round holes.

Now there's the added issue of how to get Cole Palmer into the team. The best teams are made up of players who are prepared to bend themselves to the will of the manager - and that will be the first requirement Tuchel will demand.

If someone fails to deliver on the pitch then they won't be in the team very long. Unless Tuchel has a personality transplant between now and January 1, there will be no 'untouchables.' And that's the way it should be.

If Tuchel can keep those players who will love him away from those players who will undoubtedly hate him, then he can be the manager England needs.

Simon Bird

Sorry, but the England manager should be English. I'm not a parochial Brexiteer, far from it. We can only field footballers qualified from our nation. So we should only select a manager from the coaching pool we've produced as a nation. The only very special exception I'd make is for Pep Guardiola should he want the job when he leaves City and takes a break.

Appointing Tuchel is an admission of defeat by the FA. The system has been unable to produce a home grown successor to Gareth Southgate. They've lurched from culture, continuity and talk of pathways and succession… to going foreign. Having said that, international football is no longer the pinnacle for young coaches.

The and Champions League is. And club salaries price out some English coaches, like Eddie Howe, and the global pull of the league also prevents English coaches getting jobs at the highest level.

Straight-talking Tuchel will do okay, though. He may need to rattle some of the egos in the England squad and get a reaction, as well as working out how to turn a great legacy of young talent into a front-footed, exciting side.

Alan Smith

As an outsider whose national team is now being coached by a foreigner after trusting in a homegrown choice backfired, it is hard to see too much of an issue with appointing Thomas Tuchel. And as Mark Bullingham said, he gives England the 'best possible chance' of winning the World Cup.

It would always be nice to have an Englishman in charge of England and this weakens the concept of St George's Park DNA - but there were no standout domestic contenders. Eddie Howe is not a proven winner and may have preferred to remain at anyway.

Graham Potter would have struggled with the intense media spotlight. Lee Carsley had talked himself out of the job in September. Plus, this is not exactly a Fabio Capello situation. Does Tuchel speak the language fluently? Yes. Does he know the culture? Yes. Does he really understand the Premier League? Yes.

Tuchel adored his time in Surrey and handled the daunting media glare towards the end of the Roman Abramovich era cleverly. Press dealings remain a vital component of the England job and he has enough charisma to handle difficult questions.

It is fair to suggest the FA have failed with all their big talk of pathways but Tuchel was unquestionably the best available candidate presuming Pep Guardiola was not really interested.

Mike Walters

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel - or of English football coaches overlooked for the plum job as Three Lions manager.

And xenophobia is not an attractive look, especially when the number of home-grown candidates with adequate qualifications can be counted on the fingers of one hand. If anything, Tuchel's appointment raises questions about the FA's coaching pathway at St George's Park, which is supposed to provide a conveyor belt of enlightened ideologues ready to test their methods on the international stage.

Harry Redknapp's diatribe was heartfelt and passionate, but it concealed an uncomfortable truth: The last English manager to win a major trophy in club football was, er, Harry Redknapp - when Portsmouth won the back in 2008.

Is Thomas Tuchel the right man for the job? It's a big call, especially as his most recent magic was turning Bayern Munich from the club who won everything in Germany into the side who won nothing last season.

But what has Eddie Howe won that makes him an oven-ready, proven winner suitable for the England job now? What has Graham Potter won? What has Sean Dyche won? The English alternatives are not plentiful or obvious.

And I haven't noticed the Little Englanders getting on their high horse about the England women's team being managed by a foreigner. To date, Sarina Wiegman has won the Euros and reached a World Cup final.

Daniel Orme

A habitual winner who could finally get England over the line, why wouldn't Thomas Tuchel be the right man for the Three Lions? He is an excellent tactician, knows how to win trophies and is the type of character that will get the squad focused on finally ending their long wait for silverware.

So what if he is not English? So what if he doesn't quite fit into the FA's coaching pathway? There have been complaints about that approach anyway.

Arguably one of England's most successful managers is not English and was not developed in the corridors of St George's Park. Or have we conveniently forgotten that is Dutch?

Sure, Tuchel might not be a long-term appointment for the Three Lions and he could potentially ruffle some feathers along the way. He's signed an 18-month deal for a reason.

But is that a problem should he finally win the trophy that supporters have long been lusting after? It's a big if but should he do it, we will all be looking back and laughing that this was even a debate.

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