Inside Thomas Tuchel’s England reign and how the ‘impossible job’ became perfect for a German

The smiles said enough. After Thomas Tuchel ’s first training sessions with England, one of the players’ assessments was instant. “That’s what an elite environment is supposed to feel like.” The squad still have a great respect for Gareth Southgate, but they all knew Tuchel’s coaching was closer to what they’re used to at club level. The system was instantly more sophisticated, with more depth to triangulated moves, and more integrated pressing. Tuchel, on the other side, was greatly enjoying the sessions. He was getting even more excited about the potential of the team. Thomas Tuchel in England training at the team's base in Kansas City (Getty) You could see all of this as he was walking around England’s camp in Kansas City this week, grabbing players as they went by, the energy increasing as Wednesday’s opening game against Croatia in Dallas got closer. Tuchel is loving this. It’s why he quickly signed on for Euro 2028, even if that tempered the idea that he was specifically brought in to win this World Cup. On exactly that, some of Tuchel’s predecessors might caution that he’s only loving it so much because he’s only experienced one side of the role. It’s all gone too well. Even the criticism that came after last summer’s 3-1 defeat to Senegal was nothing like what actually happens with a bad tournament performance; what Sir Alf Ramsey described as “this feeling of loneliness” that comes with the England job. Most of his successors have felt much worse than that. Ramsey also said there was a constant sense that “history was watching”, but so is everyone else – especially during a World Cup. Sir Alf Ramsey remains the only manager to lead England to World Cup glory (Getty) No one needs to retread all the old stories about Graham Taylor being mocked up as a turnip or a “drained” Kevin Keegan admitting he wasn’t good enough in a toilet. All of this is why it has long been known as England’s “impossible job”, and there's a considerable irony in how it’s become a dream role for a German. There might be all manner of historic overtones and undertones to that, but this is just about the now. Tuchel is “all in”. Part of that is because that’s his attitude to any job, but there was already more to this one. He “loves” England. The romance was instantly sparked on becoming Chelsea manager in 2021. Tuchel occasionally chuckles when thinking of one of his first games, the empty crowds of Covid allowing him to hear everything that Chris Wilder shouted at Oliver Burke in a 2-1 win away to Sheffield United. “F**king Burkey,” Wilder shouted. “It was always f**king Burkey,” Tuchel later laughed. This was real football, the German thought, and football that even without the crowds he would quickly love. It was around then that Tuchel dreamed of winning everything at Chelsea, and then maybe taking the England job, but he didn’t really consider it anything more than a nice idea. It seemed much more remote than that when he left Stamford Bridge in September 2022, but such experiences eventually played into a feeling by the summer of 2024 that he couldn’t go through the same cycle again in the club game; that he couldn’t just go to another super club. Tuchel kisses the Champions League trophy after leading Chelsea to glory (PA Wire) Tuchel nevertheless knew he “wanted to be close to the Premier League”. The eventual approach from the Football Association in September 2024 took him by surprise but he quickly saw it made complete sense. This was actually exactly what he had been looking for, without even realising. The very “rhythms” of the job suited him – right down to where he could live. Tuchel absolutely loves London, considering it home. He’s felt an affinity since first doing the London Eye with his daughter when at Chelsea, then visiting the Natural History Museum. At the time, he wore his Covid mask, with glasses on and cap down. Now, he’s much more open. Tuchel can be spotted whizzing around London on a Lime bike, heading into some of his favourite Soho gastropubs. He will occasionally have a Guinness – usually a half – or sip a small glass of wine, but doesn’t actually drink much. One birthday was celebrated with a Colin the Caterpillar cake, which he enjoys. Outside such simplicities, Tuchel has embraced the cultural scene, becoming friendly with restaurant owners and musicians. If he isn’t as interested in learning from other sports as his predecessor, the 52-year-old is constantly keen to discuss how leaders in other industries run their teams. He enjoys the work of the author Simon Sinek, and especially the importance of “clarity of purpose”. Nothing in football offers clarity like the ambition of winning the World Cup. And, for Tuchel, that trophy is currently all he sees – a feeling he has tried to impart in his players. If there is a fair debate to be had over whether a major country like England should have looked to a foreign coach, one huge reason that Tuchel is enjoying the job so much is precisely because he is foreign. He is unencumbered by the wider responsibilities of the role, or its deeper meaning to English football. It is not a vocation to him, in the way it was to Southgate. Tuchel doesn’t bother with all the extraneous elements, the state-of-the-nation stuff, because he doesn’t see it as relevant. He simply sees an excitingly talented squad, with a brilliant chance of winning the greatest of trophies. The timing helps in other ways, beyond the quality of the team. Harry Kane leads his teammates in training (PA) The scrutiny that used to come with the England job is now super-focused on the super clubs, at least outside tournaments, leaving him even more space between international breaks. That has also mitigated against the hierarchical tensions Tuchel faced in previous roles, and better freed the more engaging and mischievous sides of his personality. Tuchel, in the words of numerous players, is “a laugh”. He’s even joked with some about active love lives. A word commonly used about him is “tactile”. Tuchel is very warm with his players, and often hugs them. He stays in touch with even those out of the squad, sending them messages when they’re not playing. That is complemented by a willingness to tell them exactly what he feels. There’s no interlocutor. He can be hilariously dismissive. When one former player was considering a move to the Bundesliga, Tuchel lambasted him for wanting easy “assists against Greuther Furth”, a German minnow. His attitude to Harry Kane is of course different, since he knows the England striker is desperate to win the Champions League. Tuchel can empathise there, especially since the FA’s offer quickly drew out his own fascination with the World Cup. It was something Tuchel never really considered due to how “irregular” it is for most coaching careers, but he's now giddy about it. Even watching the first week of this World Cup, and the sense of occasion and “edge” at these huge stadiums has made him feel the “electricity”. Tuchel directs his players during training (Getty) That England are in the penultimate game of the first round has only added to the anticipation. So does the country’s centrality to perhaps his favourite World Cup. Back in Belgrade for September’s 5-0 win over Serbia, Tuchel was seen clutching a copy of Pete Davies’ book All Played Out: the Full Story of Italia ’90 . He said at the time he watched that World Cup “like crazy”, pretending to be Chris Waddle “with the collar up in my garden” even as a 17-year-old. “This was something magical.” You can instantly see that energy the players are feeling, that only grows as it gets closer to the big game. “It’s normally the stuff that I personally enjoy the most,” Tuchel said last week, “when you feel that you’re alive.” Many of his predecessors know that excitement can be killed by one goal, or one bad performance. For now, though, all Tuchel knows is the joy. This is maybe what it’s supposed to feel like. It maybe took a German to remind England of that.