'We are damaging ourselves' - England's move for Thomas Tuchel leaves Gary Neville asking 'serious questions' of the FA as he bemoans Eddie Howe & Graham Potter being overlooked

The German coach has been appointed as the incoming England boss on an 18-month contract, bringing an end to the Football Association's (FA) search for a permanent replacement for Gareth Southgate, who left after the Euro 2024 final.

The news of the ex-Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain coach's appointment has sparked an intense reaction, with even the media in his homeland criticising the FA. English fans and pundits have also voiced their anger, and former England full-back Neville believes there were more suitable options available.

"It doesn’t feel like a strategic decision it feels like an instinctive one off the back of what's happened in the last two weeks," he said on Sky Sports.

"Thomas Tuchel has been available for months, there was no need to appoint an interim if they wanted him. This to me smacks of it being a recent decision. I don't think Thomas Tuchel should be in any way, shape or form questioned in a difficult way this afternoon when he sits in the press conference because I think that he's a great coach, he's taken a job with a group of talented players and I think everybody in our country including myself will wish him all the best and hope we can get over the line and win a trophy, but I think there are some serious questions for the FA to answer in respect of English coaching.

"I do think we are damaging ourselves accepting Thomas Tuchel is better, he is better than any of the other English coaches. But with the English coaches that have managed in the upper echelons of the league with Eddie Howe at Newcastle and Graham Potter. I do think there are outstanding coaches that could have been appointed that were English."

Interim manager Lee Carsley will remain at the helm of the England squad for the remainder of the year before Tuchel takes over in January 2025. Carsley will see out the games against Greece and Republic of Ireland next month before he returns to the England Under 21s.