Why it doesn't matter the England boss is German

But international football should be 'our best against your best'

- DAN KILPATRICK

On the way out of Wembley following the shambolic defeat to Greece, a rowdy supporter on my Metropolitan line train was telling anyone in earshot that “Irishman Lee Carsley” had no business being England manager. So just wait until he finds out who the FA have picked instead!

If Carsley, who was born in Birmingham to English parents but represented Ireland as a player, is not English enough for some fans, the appointment of German Thomas Tuchel will presumably outrage the minority of supporters still regularly chanting about the Second World War and gleefully inserting “no surrender” (to whom?) into the national anthem.

Tuchel is the third foreign coach in the team’s history after Swede Sven-Göran Eriksson and Italian Fabio Capello, but the first to hail from one of our great footballing rivals.

Good on the FA, then, for disregarding the Little Englanders and appointing the candidate who most obviously fits the job description of a world-class coach with a history of winning major honours and a deep understanding of the English game, irrespective of his Germanness.