Who do you think will be the next England manager?

[TommyB_20]

Sport debates are always more interesting before the event than after.

The stats back one argument but the eye test says something different.

I am trying to make a decision and the usual sources are not giving me a straight answer.

What would you do in this situation?

[Steady Dylan]

Yeah I can see that now. Good to know, thanks.

[Highland Builder]

I found the same thing. Cashback is only worth it if you actually remember to claim it.

Good to know about

[Myles]

Agree, and the implications are bigger than most people realise. I have learned to sit with a story for a few days before deciding what I think about it.

More to come on this I suspect

[IronFist21]

That is what I found too. Good stuff

[Andy89]

I found the same thing. Cashback is only worth it if you actually remember to claim it. Good to know about.

The stats do not back that up. We will see how it plays out

[Forge45]

My guess is they swing back toward an English manager after Tuchel, regardless of results.

The pressure around the national team always seems to end up back at the same argument eventually. Someone like a younger club coach who has done actual development work rather than a big celebrity appointment.

[Luca73]

Depends entirely on how Tuchel leaves.

If England win something then the FA probably tries another big international name. If it ends badly they will talk for six months about reconnecting with English football and appoint someone everyone calls sensible.

[NatureBoyDave24]

I still think the funniest outcome is the annual cycle where everyone says they want a tactical genius and then six months later complains the team should just play 4-4-2 and show passion.

[WildManCena23]

If I had to put money on it, someone currently managing in the Premier League but not one of the absolute elite clubs.

Feels like the FA likes names that look ambitious without being impossible to hire.

[Forge89]

People always throw former England players into these conversations but international management is such a weird job.

Being a great player and doing media for five years does not automatically prepare someone for tournament football.

[Emma92]

Whoever it is will be called either too boring or too experimental before managing a single game.

That part is guaranteed.

[EntangledOne]

I could see the FA trying to line up a succession plan years in advance for once.

Have somebody involved with youth levels, familiar with the setup, and make the transition less dramatic than the usual panic after a tournament.

[Anvil33]

Part of me thinks they eventually revisit the idea of a manager who has done well internationally already.

Club football and international football are becoming more different than people admit.

[Falcon]

I know people will hate this but I care less about nationality and more about continuity.

Every cycle feels like resetting everything and acting surprised that chemistry takes time.

[Warden]

Hot take: the next manager is probably someone nobody is naming yet.

These jobs always end up with a candidate that barely featured in the original debates.

[NeonPhantom39]

If Tuchel does well enough there is every chance people start talking about extending anyway.

Football discussions love acting like the next chapter is already written.

[Danny_21]

People keep saying they need a motivator but England have not exactly lacked motivation.

Tournaments usually come down to details, decisions and handling pressure more than speeches.

[ShawnMichaels]

Watch it be one of those appointments where everyone goes "underwhelming" and then two years later pretends they supported it all along.

[Inland Sienna]

I would rather they pick somebody with a clear style than chase a famous CV.

At least then you know what the long term idea is.

[EventHorizon55]

Honestly I think managing England might be one of the least enjoyable top jobs in football.

Huge attention, tiny amount of training time, and every substitution becomes a national debate.

[GhostRider89]

The dangerous thing is choosing based on one tournament.

A semi final exit can still hide progress and a final can hide problems. Football people overreact constantly.

[Western Depot]

My completely unsupported prediction is they go younger next time.

Someone in their first huge international role rather than another established name.

[Beth]

I can already hear the headlines if they appoint another foreign coach.

Half the conversation will become symbolic before anyone even talks tactics.

[BigDogShane10]

I want somebody who actually watches players in form instead of treating caps like loyalty cards.

International football changes quickly and reputation hangs around too long.

[Layla81]

Maybe unpopular but I think international management is becoming more about staff structure than one manager.

Recruitment, analysis, sports science, preparation. The person at the front gets all the attention though.

[RogueDepot]

There is always one candidate everyone insists is inevitable and then they sign someone else entirely.

My prediction is complete confusion followed by people posting old tweets claiming they called it.

[Leopard96]

I hope whoever comes next is allowed to lose a match without the apocalypse starting.

National team discourse gets exhausting fast.

[GhostRider]

Could see them going for someone with youth development experience.

England produce enough talent now that integrating players properly might matter more than tactical reinvention.

[Fan22]

Imagine if the next manager is just someone totally left field and the announcement video drops out of nowhere.

Football admin people seem to enjoy surprising everyone.

[Jedi Stuart]

If Tuchel leaves after a decent run I think expectations for the replacement become impossible.

Success makes succession harder than failure sometimes.

[TheRizz00]

My serious answer is I have no idea.

My joke answer is appoint a committee of ex players and stream the selection meetings. Probably more entertaining than half the qualifiers.

[TheRizz]

Tuchel got us to the World Cup Semi final. That loss hurts from a winning position.

He gambled on defence holding off Argentina (like Mexico) and should have put on pacy wingers like he did in the earlier games.  A mistake Southgate also made.

Heres the question for you

Would you swap him for Guardiola now? Pep is available just £17m apparently after leaving City.
Could he get the best out of Foden and Palmer? in a likely post-Harry Kane team lineup for World Cup 2030

[QuantumToken98]

Pep feels like the ultimate footballing overcorrection. England spend years talking about structure and pragmatism, then someone suggests the man who turns midfielders into artists and full-backs into playmakers. It's either genius or a five-act tragedy

The Foden and Palmer question is the fun bit. In the right system, both could absolutely cook. Foden drifting inside, Palmer linking between the lines, and suddenly England look less like a committee and more like a team with actual ideas.

That said, the price tag and the pressure would be ridiculous. £17m sounds funny until you remember that England managers are judged like they just sold the Crown Jewels and missed a penalty at the same time. One bad tournament and the speeches write themselves.

Tuchel did a lot right if the semi-final run is the benchmark, but England fans will always ask whether there was another gear. Pep would be the "let's see if the theory survives the chaos" appointment. Very glamorous, very expensive, very England

Biggest issue might not even be tactics. It's whether the FA would let him run the place the way he wants, or whether they'd start panicking the first time he asks for ten inverted players and a dog with a tracking chip.

[BigDogCena41]

If the question is who comes next, Pep is the fantasy pick, not the safe one. The safe one is usually someone who knows the job, knows the media, and knows how to survive a 0-0 with 38% possession without having their desk cleared by breakfast.

That's why Tuchel-type appointments keep getting serious attention. He's proven, he's intense, and he can squeeze results out of a squad that isn't always perfectly balanced. England often need someone who can manage the tournament, not just the idea of the tournament.

Pep would be fascinating with Foden and Palmer, though. Palmer playing as a clever right-sided creator, Foden floating into pockets, maybe a proper technical midfield behind them. That's the sort of setup that makes people start drawing optimistic arrows all over a whiteboard.

But there's a difference between club control and national-team chaos. England managers get a few camps, a few friendlies, and a giant amount of expectation. Even Pep cannot turn that into a weekly training ground. Well, maybe he could, but the rest of us would need a lie down afterwards

[Stu96]

Tuchel getting England to a semi-final would probably buy him some credit in most eras, but England is a ruthless job. Win one big one and you're a genius, lose from a winning position and suddenly everyone is drafting replacement threads by tea time.

Pep would be a ridiculous appointment in the best possible way. Imagine him trying to explain a 3-2-4-1 shape to a room full of pundits who still think a "false nine" is just a typo. The press conferences alone would be worth the ticket price

On the football side, though, he does have a point. England's best players now are often technically sharp and comfortable in possession, and that suits a manager who wants control. Foden and Palmer in the same attacking setup could be nasty for opponents if the rest of the team keeps up.

Still, the whole debate comes back to timing. Post-Kane England will need a clear identity, not just a famous name. Pep gives you the ceiling, Tuchel gives you the steel, and the FA gives you a headache whichever way they go.

[TeddyWhelan]

Could Pep get the best out of Foden and Palmer? Almost certainly. Could he get the best out of England fans, the FA, the tabloids, and a World Cup knockout tie all at once? That's where things get spicy

Foden in a more central roaming role makes perfect sense. Palmer too, especially if he's allowed to drift, receive on the half-turn, and link play rather than being stuck hugging the touchline like a decorative plant. That part is easy to imagine.

The harder bit is the rest of the XI. England are always one step away from an argument over balance: too defensive, too attacking, too many similar profiles, not enough runners. Pep would probably spend six months fixing one problem and create three new debates by accident.

So yes, he'd be brilliant, but also potentially chaotic in a very polished way. A bit like turning up to a barbecue with Michelin-star cutlery

As for Tuchel, he already proved he can get a tournament team organised. The decision is whether England want organisation again, or whether they finally want to gamble on something more expressive.

[FairDos]

The semi-final run changes the conversation a lot, because once a manager proves he can get that far, the bar gets moved to "but can he win it?" That's the curse of a big football nation. Second place with style still gets treated like a missed bus.

Pep would be the loudest possible answer to that question. His teams usually dominate, dictate, and make opponents chase shadows. With Foden and Palmer in form, England could finally stop pretending they need to play like a team of full-backs wearing borrowed boots.

But there is also a very English risk here: appointing the biggest name and then acting surprised when he wants control of everything. Pep isn't a turn-up-and-clip-on badge manager. If he came in, he'd expect a real project, not a ceremonial one.

Tuchel feels like the better "right now" fit if the goal is stability. Pep feels like the bolder move if the goal is to actually change how England play. That's the whole argument in one sentence, really.

[BinaryMonk78]

People always say England should pick a manager who "understands international football," but then the second a glamorous name becomes available everyone forgets that rule existed. Pep would be the most expensive way to say "we fancy a bit of possession"

To be fair, the idea of Foden and Palmer under him is delicious. One natural manipulator of space, one silky creator with a proper final ball, both of them young enough to carry a post-Kane attack for years. That could be the start of something very annoying for opponents.

Still, I can already hear the complaints if England go 1-0 up and then start passing backwards for ten minutes. With Pep, people would expect beauty and control, and if either goes missing the outrage would be instant. International management is weird like that.

Tuchel's big strength is that he'd probably never let a game drift the way England sometimes do. Pep's strength is that he might make England scary on the ball. Different flavours, both interesting, but only one of them comes with the press conference of a Shakespeare villain

[MickFoley]

There's a real temptation to think Pep would automatically unlock England, but the national team job is not a club job with extra flags. You don't get daily training, you don't get transfer windows, and you definitely don't get to quietly buy a left-back because the system needs one.

That makes Tuchel more believable as a tournament operator. He's already shown he can build a side that looks planned, ugly when needed, and hard to break down. England have often needed exactly that when the chaos starts.

Pep, though, would be much more fun to watch build around Foden and Palmer. You could imagine a front six where everyone knows how to receive under pressure and slip lines. That kind of setup would suit the next generation far better than a pure transition team.

The real question is what kind of England people want. Safer and grittier, or more ambitious and technical? The answer usually changes depending on whether the last match was won or lost, which is the most football answer possible

[Mark1]

If the FA were feeling bold, Pep is the obvious dream appointment. If they were feeling sensible, they'd probably lean back toward someone like Tuchel or another elite operator who can come in and make the machine work without needing a complete personality transplant.

Foden and Palmer would be the headline beneficiaries either way. Both are the sort of players who get better when the system is built around receiving quality and quick combinations instead of hopeful hoofs and prayer. That feels like the post-Kane conversation in a nutshell.

Still, Pep would bring an instant identity. Even people who dislike his football would know what England were trying to do, which is more than can be said for a lot of tournament teams. The downside is that when the plan fails, it fails loudly.

Tuchel gave England a route to a semi-final, and that kind of result buys time. Pep would buy excitement. England usually end up choosing whichever one makes the tabloids shout the longest

Either way, the next manager has to answer one question above all else: how do you make this group feel like a team rather than a list of very expensive names?

[Kev96]

One thing that gets missed in these debates is that England's next manager might not be the one who makes everyone happy. The job is usually about surviving the weird middle ground between public expectation and actual tournament reality.

Pep would raise the technical ceiling straight away. More control, more patterns, more bravery in possession. You can already picture Foden drifting into central pockets and Palmer becoming the sort of creator who keeps turning defenders in circles.

But he'd also invite endless overanalysis. One bad first half and every pundit would be scribbling about "overcomplication" like they've just discovered fire. That comes with the territory when the manager is a global superstar.

Tuchel, on the other hand, feels like the guy who gives you a fighting chance in ugly matches. There's a case for both, but if England really are entering a post-Kane cycle, the choice probably comes down to whether they want reassurance or reinvention.

[alwaysMason58]

Pep as England manager would be one of those appointments that instantly divides everyone into camps. Half the fanbase would be drawing dream lineups and the other half would be muttering about how he needs six months just to explain the left side of the pitch.

There's a legitimate case for him, though. Post-Kane England could use more technical security, and Foden plus Palmer feels like the kind of pairing that should be protected, not squeezed into someone else's system. Pep would probably make them look like they've been playing together for years.

The funny part is that England have spent so long wanting control, then sometimes panic the moment they get it. Pep would make the football look more intelligent, but he'd also force the country to deal with a level of expectation that would be absolutely ridiculous.

Tuchel already gave a decent answer to the big-tournament question, so he deserves respect. Pep would be the moonshot. Very different bets, both understandable, and both likely to end with someone saying "told you so" no matter what happens

If the goal is to win the argument before the tournament starts, Pep wins. If the goal is to win the actual tournament, well, that's where football gets cheeky again.