It always shocked me that countries with good football development put their national team in the hands of a coach from outside. I can understand it in countries that are lagging behind in the matter and, in fact, that has benefited many Spaniards. Since Uruguay 1930, a World Cup in which Spain was only represented by Juan Luque, Mexican coach, and Paco Bru, who was from Peru, until today, the list is several dozen, with cases as notable as Camacho or Clemente. And there is Roberto Martínez, who went from the Belgian team to the Portuguese team. It still seems strange to me that countries with that tradition do not find a coach in their home, an emblematic position that has some, or quite a bit, of national representation.
Another thing is the countries in the process of football development. History offers us a specialist, the globe-trotting Yugoslavian Bora Milutinovic, who has been coach of Mexico, Costa Rica, the United States, Nigeria, China, Honduras, Jamaica and Iraq. He qualified five for the World Cup. In Spain, the cases of Helenio Herrera, Kubala and Santamaría could be cited, but by the time they arrived at the National Team they were not felt like foreigners, but rather something typical of our football. And they had Spanish nationality.
All this is relevant because England now turns to Thomas Tuchel, their third experience with a foreign coach, all three in this century, and the current one with the aggravating factor of being a German. In the England-Germany match, British fans still sing “One World Cup and two World Wars!” The people forgive, but they do not forget.
The first was the Swede Eriksson, who came on for Keegan after a defeat against Germany. He had a great resume, but he was poorly accepted. His incessant changes in friendlies (he reached eleven in a single match) were the object of ridicule. He qualified England for the 2002 World Cup, where they lost in the quarterfinals, and the same in the Euro 2004 Championship. Faced with popular and media pressure, the FA wanted to fire him, but the players defended him. Renewed until 2008, the News of the World set up a trap for him: a reporter posed as a sheikh who was going to buy Aston Villa, and he was willing to leave the national team to accompany him. He arrived damaged at the 2006 World Cup, where he lost again in the quarterfinals.
He was replaced by Steve McLaren, who did not even get them into Euro 2008. They then turned their gaze to Capello, which caused pride in Italy and confusion in England. But after the new failure and, given his record, he enjoyed a period of waiting. He qualified England for the 2010 World Cup, where they lost to Germany in the round of 16. Ratified until 2012, he left without fulfilling his contract because the FA demanded that he remove Terry’s captaincy for racist insults to Ferdinand. A culture shock.
And now Tuchel, a Bavarian who is ridiculed for his photos at the Oktoberfest with the mandatory beer mug in his hand and short leather dungarees.
The problem is that England does not produce coaches. Since time immemorial, the best in its league have come down from Scotland, read Matt Busby, Bill Shankly, Tom Docherty, Alex Ferguson…And now it is full of foreigners, preferably Spanish. The English old guard complains that they are treated like Cherokees, but they are: clinging to the past, with little culture, with an arsenal of sayings and little knowledge.
Perhaps, John Carlin told me, it is the low level of the English public school, which translates into its way of reasoning and relating. Perhaps it is the disadvantage of the first to arrive at something, because they tend to cling to their formulas and disdain those of those who come after them. It seems that the same thing happens to them with the railway.
The fact is that England once again has a foreign coach, this time, a German with a beer mug and Bavarian pants. And the people are singing. It is still a contradiction that the country that invented football and voted for Brexit has a coach from outside.