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LONDON — England has scored an own goal, according to Nigel Farage.
The Reform UK leader and self-appointed football pundit criticized the appointment of Thomas Tuchel as England’s new men’s national football team manager.
“Why can’t we have an English manager?” he tweeted Wednesday. His post on X included a screenshot of the right-wing tabloid Daily Mail’s sports page, which labeled the move a “dark day for England” as the “three Lions gamble on a GERMAN.”
“I think there are some big names out there who could do it,” Farage told the Independent newspaper. “This feels like a terrible mistake.”
Tuchel, whose appointment was confirmed Wednesday, has previously managed Chelsea in London and Bayern Munich and officially takes over from Jan. 1, 2025. He will replace Englishman Lee Carsley, who has served as interim manager since Gareth Southgate, the last permanent manager, resigned after England lost the Euro 2024 final to Spain in July.
Farage said: “At a time when national identity matters more than it has for a very, very long time, and there is a resurgence in a sense of what it means to be English in an unashamed way, Gareth Southgate fitted the bill incredible well. This is a retrograde step in my view.”
Farage’s praise for Southgate contrasts with former criticism. He slammed Southgate as “out of touch” when the manager backed his players taking the knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2021.
Farage is not the only British politician to have spoken about the appointment.
Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick was late to find out the news of the new head coach’s appointment after delivering a speech Wednesday, telling reporters: “I have to confess I haven’t even seen this news while I’ve been here this morning.” Provided with his name, Jenrick said: “OK, that’s a good choice.”
Arsenal supporter and Prime Minister Keir Starmer was slightly more complimentary in his remarks, though even his message of good luck in parliament was backhanded: “I will not hold his old job against him, but I wish him well in the new one.”
England’s women’s team is also managed by a foreigner, Sarina Wiegman of the Netherlands. In 2022 she guided her players to their first-ever major tournament victory, with a victory over Germany at Wembley.
