'My next-door neighbour could be England manager!' - Paul Gascoigne delivers strong verdict on Thomas Tuchel getting Three Lions job & reveals hilarious '30 grand pizza advert' quip to Gareth Southgate

Gareth Southgate stepped down from the most pressurised of roles after overseeing runs to two European Championship finals and a World Cup semi-final. He has been knighted on the back of those achievements, despite failing to land a first trophy with the men’s team since 1966.

Reins have been passed to former Chelsea and Bayern Munich coach Tuchel, with a winning start made to his tenure in 2026 World Cup qualifying clashes with Albania and Latvia. Questions are being asked of whether a new era for England will be any different to those that went before it, with there still plenty of room for improvement.

Three Lions legend Gascoigne says any success enjoyed from here will be down to the players, not those in the dugout, with the Euro 96 hero telling Poker Scout: “We’ve had so many foreign managers you know. But what English manager can we have? We’ve just had one, [Lee] Carsley and he didn’t want the job. And Eddie Howe could have had it, but he’s alright where he is. We’ll have to see. But it doesn’t make any difference what manager we have. My next door neighbour could be the England manager.

“It’s the players on the pitch who have got to perform. When I got picked by Bobby Robson, I wanted to play for him. He was giving me the chance to play for my country. So whoever plays for them has got to do their best, because it’s not easy being an England manager. Because once your time’s up, your time’s up and the fans will let you know, so good luck to them to be fair.”

Quizzed on whether he has any issue with the England manager being German, Gazza added: “Well, Germany, I don’t know, I mean I got beat on penalties there twice. That was funny, that penalty thing [in 1996], because I said to Gareth Southgate, ‘what happened to you? I scored my penalty and ended up in rehab. You missed yours, and you get the England manager’s job and 30 grand pizza advert.’

“But yeah, with the German manager, you’ve got to give him a chance. It was nice to have an England manager, but it’s not the manager who counts, it’s the players.”

England will not be back in action until taking in a World Cup qualifier with Andorra on June 7 and a friendly date with Senegal at the City Ground three days later. They are expected to ease their way to next summer’s global showpiece in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with it there that Tuchel will face his biggest tests.