Steve Cooper on his belief in the English coaching pathway and on better English coaches in the coaching ecosystem.
Steve Cooper says he believes in Britain’s culture and coaching pathway following Thomas Tuchel’s appointment as England boss.
German Tuchel, 51, was officially announced as the new Three Lions manager on Wednesday. When he takes over as manager on January 1, he will join the ranks of only three non-British managers of the England men’s team.
The Football Association reports that “approximately 10” candidates were interviewed for the position, including English hopefuls. However, former England defender Gary Neville described the move as “damaging” for local coaches.
“Hopefully over the course of time British coaching will continue to improve and we will be right up there with the world’s best,” said Welshman Cooper, who led England to victory at the Under-17 World Cup in 2017.
“In the meantime any opportunity we are given we have to take them and do a good job. Until we do that on a regular basis maybe we shouldn’t say so much.
“I really believe in British culture, I believe in the coaching education pathway as well.”
Mark Bullingham, the chief executive of the FA, stated on Wednesday that England is “not in that place” to have multiple domestic managers competing for a position leading the national team, but he claimed the national coaching structure works.
“I think any federation in the world that is looking to hire a senior manager, clearly you would love to have five to 10 domestic candidates who are coaching clubs in your domestic league, challenging and winning honours in your domestic league and European football,” said Bullingham.
“We are not quite in that place at the moment.”