Paul Scholes and Gary Neville clash over Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe in heated England debate

Former Manchester United star Gary Neville has slammed the FA for appointing a foreign manager and feels that Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe should have been the nation’s number one target, at a time when he claims British managers are struggling to form an identity in the game.

Howe was initially one of the early frontrunners to take the England job before Thomas Tuchel’s appointment, but admitted to the Shields Gazette that he was not contacted about the vacancy. He reiterated the fact that his sole focus had always been on Newcastle United but didn’t rule out the prospect of managing England at some stage later in his career.

After Tuchel’s appointment, the FA stated that they had interviewed as many as 10 candidates about succeeding Gareth Southgate in the dugout, adding that some of the contenders were English managers. Neville along with Jamie Carragher has been a vocal critic of the FA’s decision to go down the foreign route again after working under both Sven Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello. However, Paul Scholes disagreed with Neville’s viewpoint and claimed that Tuchel has greater aura and credentials for the post in comparison to Howe. Speaking on The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast, he said that Tuchel would be the man to get England over the line against the top nations.

“I think they [Eddie Howe and Graham Potter] would be able to do it, but they don’t have the credentials. They won’t have the same presence, like Thomas Tuchel. England are good until they play a good team. Thomas Tuchel, he’s proven,“ Scholes explained. “The paths England have had to get through to finals has been quite simple. But then there is one of those games where as soon as you play a [quality] team, like Croatia, Spain or Italy, you come unstuck. I think this could be the man who takes us there.” 

Scholes, who retired early from international football after Euro 2004, admitted he didn’t really like the idea of having a foreign English manager at first but admitted it did not impact his thinking. The 66-time international added: “I never thought about it. Sven was the first non-English coach at the time, and I didn’t really like the idea of it, but I came around to it. I don’t think he was the greatest coach in the world that could have been had at the time and I can’t even remember what English managers were available, but of course you’d want an English coach. 

“Eddie Howe – I think he still has things to do in club football before he takes on the job. I still think Thomas Tuchel, to some extent, has got a few years to prove as a club manager because he’s had eighteen-month stints here and there. The first manager I said [to take the role] was Pep Guardiola. It’s the right stage for him – he’s done it at big clubs for a number of years.” 

However, Neville, who was involved in the England set-up as an assistant to Roy Hodgson between 2012 and 2016 claimed that the whole idea of hiring a foreign manager goes against the FA’s philosophy of moving to St George’s park and creating a pathway for English coaches.

Neville said: “I was with England when they moved to St. George’s Park and in that move, there was a vision of the FA moving forward that English coaching, English education pathway, promoting an English style of football and identity, and having England coaches was important – that was deemed to be success. The actual teams have been successful over the last eight years. This is not an anti-Thomas Tuchel agenda, it’s purely around the fact that English coaches are struggling to build an identity, not just in this country but in Europe as well. So, if we can’t appoint an English coach to the national job, where are we putting our belief system in terms of what we’re doing? 

“Ultimately, I will support Thomas Tuchel and I’m desperate for England to win a tournament, but just think going back to where we were with [Fabio] Capello and Sven [Göran Eriksson], I didn’t think we’d revisit that again. I thought we’d say that the England manager has to be English moving forward because English coaching is struggling at this moment in time.” 

When asked about who he felt had the credentials for the post, Neville said: “It probably would have been Eddie Howe or Graham Potter. They would have been one of the two I would have gone for.”