Millwall head coach Harris disappointed FA did not appoint Englishman as new national team boss
Millwall head coach Neil Harris has been left “disappointed” by the Football Association not appointing an Englishman to manage the national team.
Thomas Tuchel has agreed an 18-month deal to boss the England team. The former Chelsea manager succeeds Gareth Southgate, who stepped down after failing to lead the nation to glory at the European Championships in the summer.
Lee Carsley has been in interim charge since Southgate left his post.
Harris said: “Firstly I am a huge England fan who has travelled around the world to watch my national team. I was a huge Gareth Southgate fan – what he achieved was phenomenal and people are now realising that, a little bit after bemoaning him during the Euros.
“I’m disappointed we haven’t got an Englishman. I don’t know Thomas and I’m not knocking him as a person or a football coach – he has done exceptionally well in his career.
“I’m a massive fan of his, but as an Englishman and an English football fan – with the pyramid system and everything the FA stands for – how we haven’t got an Englishman to manage us is beyond me. I know why. And I can’t share why. There are people out there we could’ve appointed – and feel we should’ve appointed.
“Having said that, I’ll support Thomas Tuchel hugely as an Englishman and a football fan, because he is the one leading us at the moment.
“Eddie Howe would’ve been my choice by a long, long way.
“You have to have English parents and English grandparents to play for the national team. So why does that change as a manager?”
Asked if that was a systematic failure than an English candidate did not get the job, Harris added: “We’ve got Englishmen managing in the Premier League at the moment – English coaches and manager that aren’t managing at the moment that are available. Is it a very, very tightly run ship where we won’t pay compensation for people? Possibly. That’s something that has possibly got to be considered.
“Grassroots football is the start for all of us. I’ve done all my coaching badges – from the level one up to the pro licence – and they are absolutely phenomenally well run. St George’s Park is the mecca of coaching around the world. We are so fortunate with what we’ve got.
“Is it a failing of English football that we allow so many foreign coaches to come and manage in our country? Maybe that is the problem. Maybe that has got to be considered. Maybe that has got to be considered, when every owner wants to bring in a foreign coach and every club wants a foreign coach – every football fan..the perception is we have to get foreign coaches and foreign players. Are we failing in that sense?
“I feel quite strongly about that. Ultimately Thomas Tuchel is the manager and I will support him.”
PICTURE: PA