FA claim of 10 managers interviewed raises questions over process

Some candidates, left in the dark after informal talks, were never given opportunity to formally present or pitch for the permanent job

Mark Bullingham’s claim that 10 candidates, including English coaches, were interviewed for the permanent England job has raised questions over the Football Association’s process to appoint Thomas Tuchel.
FA chief executive Bullingham insisted that he and technical director John McDermott had run a thorough process that he claimed included interviewing 10 managers before settling on former Chelsea manager Tuchel.
It is understood that the FA spoke to a range of candidates, including Englishmen, but Telegraph Sport has been told that a number of those did not consider themselves to have been formally interviewed or given a realistic chance of landing the job.
Discussions were largely said to be informal and viewed as being preliminary. There are also claims that some of those spoken to, who Bullingham may have been referring to, were never given the opportunity to formally present or pitch for the permanent job.
Candidates were left in the dark over the FA’s process to appoint a new full-time successor to Gareth Southgate and the first many of them heard they were not under serious consideration was when Tuchel’s appointment was publicly announced.
Bullingham joined Tuchel on the top table at the German’s unveiling on Wednesday at Wembley, while McDermott sat with the new permanent England manager’s personal representative Olaf Meinking and Anthony Barry, who will assist Tuchel.
Asked to name who had been interviewed for the post and whether any of those candidates had been English, Bullingham said: “The whole process was confidential. That may have been frustrating to people, but we have to maintain that confidentiality. Not only for us, but more importantly the candidates. I will say a few things and hold it at that. So we interviewed approximately 10 people and we did interview some English candidates within that. As to anything further you wouldn’t expect me to divulge any details really.”
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is one of those sounded out by the FA, but, asked if anybody rejected the role, Bullingham said: “We ran a really clear process. We spoke to approximately 10 throughout the process. Clearly some were more up for the role than others. We were absolutely delighted to end up with Thomas and we believe he gives us the best chance of winning the World Cup. We believe the best candidate got the job.”
Asked if the decision to appoint a foreign manager was a damning indictment on English coaches, Bullingham said: “If you look at St George’s Park overall, I think it has been a really good success. Our pathway is really strong, both from a coaches and players point of view.
“There are a lot of fantastic young coaches around and obviously Anthony is one of those. I think any federation in the world that is looking to hire a senior manager, clearly you would love to have five to 10 domestic candidates who are coaching clubs in your domestic league, challenging and winning honours in your domestic league and European football.
“We are not quite in that place at the moment. As we set out our process, our priority was to find someone that can give our players the best possible chance to win. We have found that, and we have got Thomas – and we are delighted with that.
“In the background, we have got to keep helping our young coaches to get the best opportunities they can and to get them good opportunities at clubs. We would love to have more English coaches managing in the Premier League, for example. I think there is a balance there.”