Alan Shearer gives theory as to why FA acted quickly to land Thomas Tuchel as England boss – as Gary Lineker claims timing is ‘slightly odd’ with German set to take over next year
- Thomas Tuchel has agreed a deal to become England’s next manager
- Former England captain Alan Shearer claims the FA was forced into action
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Alan Shearer has suggested that the Football Association was forced to act quickly to broker a deal that could see Thomas Tuchel take over as England manager.
Tuchel has signed an 18-month contract to become England boss, meaning the 2026 World Cup in North America could be his only tournament in charge.
The former Chelsea boss becomes only the third non-English manager of the England men’s team and the first since Fabio Capello retired in 2012.
A press conference to confirm his appointment is expected to be held at Wembley on Wednesday.
Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, Shearer and Gary Lineker discussed the speed of the deal, with talks between Tuchel and the FA gaining momentum in recent days.
Thomas Tuchel has agreed a deal to become the next manager of the England national team
Alan Shearer believes ties with the FA have forced the Football Association to make a decision
Tuchel had been strongly tipped to replace Erik ten Hag if Man United sack the Dutchman
Shearer insisted the FA may have feared losing an ‘excellent candidate’ in Tuchel as he was reported to be a candidate to take over as Man United boss amid mounting pressure on Erik ten Hag.
‘She [the FA] “I looked at whoever and came up with Thomas Tuchel and thought there was a real chance he could get the Man United job quite quickly,” Shearer said.
‘There are opportunities there now. If they didn’t act quickly now, they wouldn’t get one of the best candidates for the job in England.
‘There is a good chance that a vacancy will become available soon.’
Ties between Tuchel and Man United continued to grow after the Red Devils’ worst start to a Premier League season, with eight points from their first seven games.
Ten Hag’s future was one of the topics discussed at Man United’s board meeting at Ineos headquarters in London last week.
Lineker agreed with Shearer’s view in suggesting that the timing of the deal indicated that the FA had been put under pressure.
He stressed that Tuchel is not expected to take over as England manager until early this year, with interim Lee Carsley set to continue in charge of the Three Lions matches against Greece and the Republic of Ireland next month.
It is expected that Tuchel will become the new England manager early next year
Interim Lee Carsley will manage the Three Lions in their Nations League matches next month
‘We know them [Man United] went for Tuchel in the summer and that didn’t happen, so maybe they were thinking again and the FA thought ‘crikey, we don’t want to miss Man United’ and maybe it pushed them,” Lineker said.
‘It seems a bit strange what the timing is because there are rumors that he won’t finish the job until the beginning of the year. Lee Carsley gets three camps, I guess he knew because his quotes were somewhat informative in a way.
‘Especially after the second game they won, he said England need a manager who has won trophies.’
Shearer added: “I think the FA felt we had to take action here otherwise we risk losing one of our excellent candidates to a club job and that could have happened very quickly.
‘I think that fits everything, why he would start in January and not maybe straight away. They thought, ‘Let’s get this deal done now.’