There have already seemed to be a number of ex-players willing to give their two penneth on the English FA’s appointment of Thomas Tuchel, with Stan Collymore offering a simple reason why the German should never have been given the job.
It was, perhaps, the most obvious outcome to the announcement earlier this week that former players and other pundits would pop up on TV and radio shows to denounce the Football Association for not going with an English manager.
Indeed, Alan Shearer let it slip that Eddie Howe wasn’t even approached during the current process, which seems staggering given his standing in the game.
Gary Neville also believes questions should be asked as to why his former club, Man United, weren’t more decisive in bringing Tuchel to Old Trafford.
He’s been handed the job for the next 18 months in any event, but Collymore suggested a valid reason why he should never have been approached – though it might cause controversy to some.
“International Football is about people from one nation versus people from another,” he told CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.
“However, there’s been a genuine ‘clubification’ of international football over the past few years. Everything from players swapping allegiance (higher profile, bigger contracts playing for the glamour nation if they’re dual nationality), to high profile coaches effectively using international football as a nice part-time job before the next one of half a dozen plum jobs comes up.
“It’s turning the purest form of the sport a farce.
“A simple remedy is you declare, aged 18 and on signing a pro contract as a pro player or in completion of your pro licence as a coach, which country you wish to play for. Which country that you’re eligible to play for or coach. It’s that simple.
“The joke of players picking one country after representing another then ends, and countries via UEFA and FIFA can concentrate resources on making sure EVERY football nation knows who they can pick but more importantly know who to invest money in on their coaching pathway.
“That would mean Tuchel can only manage Germany and Declan Rice, Jack Grealish etc would have had to make a choice aged 18 and back themselves as adults to make and stick to that choice.”
Of course, for some people, such as West Ham’s Michail Antonio, if he hadn’t have swapped allegiance to the Jamaican national team, he would never have been able to experience playing in international matches.
Collymore certainly has a point though.
If England, for example, don’t have the playing resource to be able to win major tournaments, they shouldn’t just be allowed to go around hoovering up talent via the back door.
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