The appointment of Thomas Tuchel as England coach has been met with mixed reactions. While it has generally been well received by fans, some of the tabloids are unhappy the job hasn't gone to an Englishman. They are particularly upset at Tuchel being German, digging up fallacious archaic arguments going back to World War II.
Tuchel addressed this issue at a press conference saying "we have to free ourselves from history" and went on to say how "proud" and "privileged" he felt on landing the job. His technical knowledge and tactics have been widely praised and he is regarded as one of the best coaches around, although on occasions he has displayed a fragile temperament.
Most fans know him from his days at Chelsea where he achieved considerable success winning the Champions League, Fifa Club World Cup and Uefa Super Cup. His subsequent sacking by Todd Boehly was something of a surprise although it came after a run of disappointing results.
His recent spell at Bayern Munich proved a mixed bag. The second season did not go well with the club failing to win the Bundesliga for the first time in a dozen years.
Somewhat predictably the English tabloids seem more interested in Tuchel's nationality rather than his coaching abilities, leading to assorted ridiculous headlines. If nothing else, this media reaction gives Tuchel a taste of what he could be in for if things don't go well.
The England job carries a lot of baggage. It is like no other when it comes to public scrutiny with fans and pundits always believing they know better than the manager. One reason Gareth Southgate quit was that he could no longer take the media abuse even though he had been one of England's most successful managers.
Tuchel is the third non-English coach following in the footsteps of Sweden's Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italy's Fabio Capello who were both good at qualifying for tournaments but not at lifting trophies.
Capello's four years at the helm ended in some acrimony and a deteriorating relationship with the FA. The Italian newspaper La Repubblica observed: "The English could not stand him any longer and he could not stand the English." It was the lack of privacy that got to Eriksson who observed that among the requirements of being England manager "you should be a saint... and not have a private life."
The problem for those who want an English gaffer is the lack of choice. The uncomfortable reality is that there are only three English managers in the Premier League -- Eddie Howe (Newcastle), Sean Dyche (Everton) and Gary O'Neil (Wolves). Howe had been tipped as a possible candidate although he did not show much enthusiasm for the job.
No English manager has ever won the Premier League, although Scotland's Sir Alex Ferguson managed it 13 times with Manchester United. In fact the last English manager to win the top flight was Howard Wilkinson with Leeds United in 1992, the year before the launch of the Premier League.
The England job has taken its toll over the years and Wilkinson summed it up nicely back in 1993:
"I worked for the last three England managers and I've seen what it did to them. I saw Ron Greenwood break out in sores, Bobby Robson go grey and poor Graham Taylor double up in anguish and stick his head between his legs so far it nearly disappeared up his backside."
Let's hope Tuchel knows what he has let himself in for.