Newcastle's Eddie Howe confirms England preference, labels Thomas Tuchel 'one of the best' coaches

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has confirmed that he was not interviewed by the Football Association to become the next England manager.

FA CEO Mark Bullingham revealed on Wednesday that "approximately 10" managers were interviewed for the role of Three Lions head coach before appointing Thomas Tuchel.

Howe was regarded by many as one of the leading candidates to succeed Gareth Southgate, who resigned from his post in July following England's Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain.

The 46-year-old, who has spent almost three full years in charge of Newcastle, is one of only three English managers in the Premier League, along with Everton's Sean Dyche and Wolverhampton Wanderers' Gary O'Neil.

According to the Daily Mail, the FA were unwilling to fork out a compensation figure likely to be in excess of £6m to prise Howe away from his role at Newcastle.

Although Bullingham has confirmed that some of the "approximately 10" managerial candidates interviewed were English, Howe has revealed that he was not one of them.

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Howe focused on Newcastle, not bothered by England snub

When asked at a Newcastle press conference on Friday if he was interviewed for the England job, Howe said: "No, I wasn't."

Later pressed on whether he was ever contacted by the FA, he replied: "No."

Howe went on to reiterate his commitment to Newcastle and insisted that he remains fully focused on winning matches in the Premier League.

Asked if he was bothered that he was not contacted by the FA, Howe said: "Absolutely not. I think England have to do what is right for them and only they will know the processes they have gone through and the decisions they have made, and I'm certainly not the type of person that is going to analyse that.

"For me, it's about Newcastle, it's about trying to win games and it's hard enough trying to do that if you're 100% focussed.

"I will always remain that way to my work. If you drop your levels of focus, the job becomes impossible. At no stage have I allowed myself to do that."

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Howe labels Tuchel as 'one of the best' coaches

Howe has admitted that his preference is to see an Englishman manage the England team, but he believes that the FA have appointed 'one of the best' foreign coaches in ex-Chelsea boss Tuchel.

"Speaking about Thomas himself, I've got a relationship with Thomas. I was lucky to see him work at Chelsea when I was out of work," said Howe.

"What a brilliant guy, what a great person, what a great coach. I had two days with him and I thought he was fascinating and great company. I wish him well and I think it's a great appointment. I hope he leads England to many trophies.

"I have always said, going back years, that my preference would have been for an English coach, but if you are going to go foreign, you go for one of the best and I certainly think Thomas is one of them."

Tuchel, who has penned an 18-month contract as England boss, has won a total of 11 trophies in charge of four different clubs, including league titles at both Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich as well as the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup during his time at Chelsea.

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Howe open to becoming England boss in the future?

Although Howe was not considered for the England job this time around, the Newcastle boss has refused to rule out stepping into international management in the future.

"Who knows? I've always said that you can never predict what's going to happen in management, you can never plan too far ahead. I certainly don't," Howe added.

"I'm a day-to-day planner, while certainly acknowledging that Newcastle - I've always said this - has a future and we have to make sure we make the right decisions long term.

"But the job takes so many twists and turns, you can't look too far ahead. I think that's negative, actually, if you do that, so in terms of my own career and what's five, 10 years ahead, I don't know, I've got no idea.

"But I'd never say that managing England isn't something I'd like to do maybe one day if given the opportunity, but my focus is Newcastle, Newcastle, Newcastle."

Howe is now preparing his Newcastle side, who sit seventh in the Premier League table, for Saturday's home encounter with Brighton & Hove Albion.

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