Exclusive: Thomas Tuchel wants Andy Murray as assistant England coach

Thomas Tuchel’s attempts to reassure fans and pundits that he’s the right man for the England job have gone awry amidst plans to install Andy Murray as his assistant.

It follows a media outcry at the FA’s decision to appoint a non-English manager at a time when a plethora of homegrown talent such as Alan Pardew, Ian Holloway and Michael Beale are all readily available.

German Tuchel is just the fourth non-English manager to take charge of the Three Lions after Sven-Goran Eriksson of Sweden, Italian tactician Fabio Capello and Dutchman Steve McClaren.

His attempts to bring Murray into the England fold have been met with derision given the former tennis star’s outspoken views on Scottish independence and his previous claim he would support ‘whoever England is playing’ during the 2006 World Cup.

‘To be honest I thought Andy was English the way the Wimbledon commentators spoke about him’, Tuchel told Paddy Power News.

‘It just proves you should really do your homework, but he’s signed a very expensive and legally binding contract with the FA, and we have to move on’.

As a result of the mix-up, Tuchel said he was reviewing his choices for the remaining positions within his backroom staff.

‘I guess we can kiss goodbye to Mary Lou McDonald as physio and Michel Barnier as kitman now’, shrugged the 51-year-old former Bayern Munich boss.

Meanwhile, pundit Gary Neville is an outspoken critic of Tuchel’s appointment.

Neville, who made 85 England appearances during a 10-year spell when the country had only one right-back, believes there are English men who could have got the job.

‘The England boss should only ever be an Englishman – or a bald Spaniard’, Neville told Paddy Power News.

‘There are plenty of English coaches available. I should know. I sacked most of them at Salford.

‘If I oversaw the FA, it would be an English coach in charge of England. No exceptions, except for Pep Guardiola’, he muttered.