Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe says he was not contacted by the Football Association during their recent hunt for a new England manager.
The FA on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of Thomas Tuchel, with chief executive Mark Bullingham saying they “interviewed approximately 10 people” including “some English candidates”.
Howe, one of only three English managers currently in the Premier League, confirmed on Friday he was not among them.
Asked if he was interviewed for the England job, he said: “I was not. There was no contact from the FA.”
Questioned on whether this bothered him, Howe said: “England have to do what is right for them and only they will know the processes they have gone through and the decisions they have made. I am certainly not the type of person that is going to analyse that.
“For me, it’s about Newcastle and trying to win games and it’s hard enough to do that if you are 100% focused, and I will always remain that way to my work. If you drop your levels, then the job becomes impossible and at no stage have I allowed myself to do that.”
The FA confirmed the appointment of German manager Tuchel on Wednesday, making him the third non-Englishman to coach the senior men’s team.
Howe, while saying he would have preferred an English coach to have been given the job, was full of praise for the 51-year-old.
He said he had shadowed Tuchel for a couple of days while the German was manager of Chelsea and had learned a lot from the man who guided the Blues to the Champions League title in 2021.
“I’ve got a relationship with Thomas and I was lucky enough to go and see him work at Chelsea when I was out of work,” Howe, 46, said. “What a brilliant guy. What a great person. What a great coach.
“I had two days with him and thought he was fascinating, and I wish him well. I think he’s a great appointment and I hope he leads England to many trophies.
“My preference would have been for an English coach but if you are going to go foreign then go for the best and Thomas is certainly that.”
Tuchel’s appointment as a non-English manager of the men’s England team – following Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italian Fabio Capello – has raised questions about the pathway for English managers to elite level jobs.
Former Newcastle and England striker Alan Shearer had said on Wednesday that he was “surprised” Howe was not approached by the FA.
When asked if he was comfortable with Tuchel being appointed, Shearer told The Rest Is Football podcast: “If he is the outstanding candidate, yeah.
“But what would be a little bit of a concern is the pathway for English coaches.”
He added: “I’m happy in a way because Newcastle are not losing their manager. He [Howe] is an outstanding manager and would have been the main English candidate for me. To know he has not even been sounded out is very surprising.”
