Gareth Southgate stood down from his role as England manager yesterday, which as you know in my opinion was a long time coming and should have happened many years back.
But this isn’t another Southgate opinion article, and it’s time to look forward anyway.
So who’s next? The FA have an interim option lined up for the role – I heard names (as reported on my own Substack site) like Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, and Lee Carsley for that. Carsley is also being considered for the role on a permanent basis.
England will consider all nationalities, and Mauricio Pochettino will be spoken to. Graham Potter is considered one of the favourites by sources, and Eddie Howe will also be contacted.
But as for Thomas Tuchel, a source has said that is unlikely as of now, much to my annoyance. I don’t think you can ever say never with these things, and we’ve heard Tuchel would be up for the role. But at the moment sources believe he is an unlikely candidate.
Sources also say that Carsley has a big chance of getting it. Incidentally, we also understand that Frank Lampard has had talks with the FA recently, but that was believed to be about taking the U21s manager position should it become available. And if Carsley steps up, then Lampard could move into that one. Lampard would want and back himself for the senior team job as well, but that at the moment is probably unlikely as well.
Potter and Carsely seen as most likely candidates at this moment, with an outside chance for Pochettino and Howe.
We also expect that other names will be looked at and spoken to along the way.
Honestly though, what are they doing? If they want a balanced manager who is good tactically and also a good motivator/strong mentality, then Tuchel is right there!! He’s a winner, we need a winner.