Thomas Tuchel makes honest admission over England future after contract claim
Thomas Tuchel has enjoyed a bright start to life as England manager and he has now revealed that he could yet stay in the job beyond his original contract with the FA
Thomas Tuchel has revealed he is open to staying as England manager after the World Cup. And the German claimed Three Lions fans will understand if his team does not triumph next summer Cup “if we go out with pride”.
Tuchel started an 18-month contract in January with the stated aim of winning England’s first major trophy since 1966. His predecessor Gareth Southgate reached two Euro finals during his eight-year reign.
Tuchel recalled Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden for the qualifiers against Serbia and Albania with England already qualified for the World Cup. After winning all six qualifiers, the former Chelsea boss said: “‘Yes, I’m happy in the job. It’s a lot of fun.”
Asked if there was a part of him that wanted to stay in the role beyond the 2026 World Cup, Tuchel said: “Yes, there is. It’s a possibility (to extend). I open up the possibility. If everyone, the FA is happy with me, there’s always the possibility, but the focus is now for camp.
“I’m in a good place mentally because I love the team. I love the support from the Federation and I love the direction where it’s heading. And that’s the main focus. I haven’t thought so much about my contract, but, yeah, we have time for it.”
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Tuchel said it was “not important” to agree a contract extension before the World Cup but did not rule it out. “No, of course not,” he said. “But it’s not a demand.”
Fabio Capello signed a new deal just before the 2010 World Cup and his sterile England side were thrashed by Germany in the last 16 before he resigned in February 2012.
Asked what he felt he would need to do in North America to deserve a new contract, Tuchel said: “That is a tricky question. I don’t want to talk about it right now.
“It will be a huge distraction if I give you a certain level that is a minimum demand to myself. I have this in my head clearly. Maybe we can talk openly about it before the World Cup. There is a certain state we have to reach that I demand from myself. Otherwise, it’s not good enough.
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“But I think we all understand that when it comes to knock-out football, it’s ‘how do we go out?’ I think it’s different if we lose 3-0 in a round of 32 or 16 to a huge underdog and we completely under-perform or you lose with a red card in the second minute for the goalkeeper and you go out and you put up a big fight in a quarter-final and you go out on penalties and play 120 minutes with 10 men.
“I am the first one to agree that titles matter and to agree that it’s about winning, winning, winning – yes I’m the first one and still feel the fans will understand if we go out with pride, if we go out with a top performance.
“Or if it was like: They could have done better and they were striking in training and they were drinking. Then ok, they will clearly understand whether this is the right way to continue or not.”
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