Thomas Tuchel’s announcement as England boss came as a surprise to many as Gary Lineker was informed of the reaction the German public had upon learning of the football manager’s next role
Gary Lineker couldn’t help but laugh when learning of Germany’s general reaction to Thomas Tuchel becoming the new England manager. The ex-Chelsea boss was announced as Gareth Southgate’s successor with the Three Lions last October.
As only the third foreign manager in England history and first since Fabio Capello left his role in 2012, the decision to appoint the German certainly came as a surprise to some in the footballing world. However, the 51-year-old has enjoyed a winning start to his England career, earning victories over Albania and Latvia in their opening two games of the 2026 World Cup qualifying.
The Three Lions return to action on Saturday where they travel to Barcelona to take on Andorra.
While there were portions of supporters were delighted with the decision to appoint a manager with the pedigree that Tuchel possesses, there was also blowback – notably from Harry Redknapp, who admitted he was sad the FA didn’t choose an Englishman to lead the national team.
Wanting to learn the reaction from Germany of their countryman now leading England, Lineker was joined by German journalist Raphael Honigstein on an episode of The Rest Is Football just days after the news Tuchel’s appointment had been confirmed.
Given the long-standing rivalry that exists between Germany and England, Lineker asked: “Rafa, in Germany, what are they saying? A German coach managing England – what are they saying? I’ll be fascinated to know,” to which, the Munich-born journalist replied: “Well so far I haven’t really seen any big think pieces or big opinions, I think it’s just very matter of fact – ‘Hooray there’s another German manager in a top position.’
“That reflects well on German football, it reflects well on German coaching. It’s England and Wembley for places which is really seen as something which is sacred and a hallowed turf and so on. And I think people, by large, are just sort of proud that there is a German at the helm of this storied football nation. I think that is the grounds of opinion.
“When it goes towards tournaments – and god forbid we play each other in the knockouts, it goes to penalties – I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Before nodding towards a potential final between the two rivals, a laughing Lineker then added: “And in the end, the German always wins – not the Germans.”
Despite the tradition of rivalry that defined the relationship between Germany and England, Honigstein claimed that Germans don’t dislike England as a football country before adding a jibe about their failure to win an international tournament for almost 60 years.
“There is no real dislike towards England as a football nation,” he said. “If anything, I think it’s sort of a mild, positive attitude. We look up to England, we like English football, we sometimes make fun of them when they don’t win – which happens not so frequently any more, they win a little too much for my taste.
“It’s much more good-natured I would say from our perspective – then there’s more sort of real animosity for example that we have with the Italians and the Dutch.
“England is a much milder rivalry, and of course, it’s also easier to have good relations with a nation that doesn’t win anything. So that’s helped in the last sixty-odd years.”
It was the journalist’s last statement that also left Lineker grinning, before adding: “Well let’s hope that a German can change that.”
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