Thomas Tuchel has said that he wants to have a “clean start”, as he explained at his England unveiling why he is not starting the job until January 1.
The Football Association (FA) announced on Wednesday morning that Tuchel signed his contract as England head coach on October 8, but he will not be starting until the new year.
This means Lee Carsley will continue in interim charge for next month’s UEFA Nations League games against Greece and the Republic of Ireland, and Tuchel will not manage a game until March 2025.
But Tuchel and FA CEO Mark Bullingham both defended the policy at Wednesday’s Wembley press conference, saying that it allowed for Tuchel to take over and focus singularly on England’s World Cup qualification campaign which will start next year.
“We always said to Lee he would have three camps and we were very clear he’d run the Nations League campaign,” Bullingham explained. “When we first spoke to Thomas he wanted to have a singular focus on the World Cup. So it made sense on both sides for him to start on January 1.”
When Bullingham was asked whether there was a specific reason why Tuchel could not start in November, the FA CEO reiterated that the new head coach wanted to come in and focus on the World Cup campaign.
“When we first spoke to him, we had our timescale, Thomas had his timescale and it just fitted really well,” Bullingham said. “What was so impressive was his singular focus on us and the World Cup and that project. It made sense for it to start on the first of January and made sense for Lee to finish the campaign in the Nations League. So we’re very comfortable where we are and that’s what we’ll be doing.”
Tuchel explained that if he started his tenure with two Nations League games before starting the World Cup qualifiers, he may lose focus before the main competition.
“It was important for me to narrow it down into a project and not lose the focus, to start in another competition, the Nations League, then go into (World Cup) qualification and the tournament. I wanted to have a clean start and a bit of time to recharge fully, start in January, and start the first camp in March. We will have not a lot of time.”
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