It makes no sense that Thomas Tuchel will not start working until the new year

New manager cannot overemphasise how excited he is to start the job – just not so excited that he wants to start right away

There was, the Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham declared, no better man to lead the England team. Alongside him, Thomas Tuchel turned on the full wattage of his charm and declared himself ready to take England that last step – to victory at the 2026 World Cup finals. This began as all England managerial appointments do: with a sense of all the possibilities the job encompasses rather than its many beartraps. 
Which made the most puzzling part of it Bullingham’s announcement that Tuchel would not start work until January 1, which means he will not name an England squad until March. As to why that was the case, and why he would skip next month’s Nations League games, there was no clear explanation. 
“It made sense,” Bullingham said – although he could not explain why. “When we first spoke to him,” Bullingham said, “we had our timescale, Thomas had his timescale and it just fitted really well.” There was, both men would say, an attractiveness to the short timeframe of the 18-month contract – which lasts until the end of the 2026 World Cup hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. 
Between them, the pair tried to mount the argument that it was about playing in one competition, World Cup qualifying, and not the current six-game Nations League campaign. “That’s why it was important for me,” Tuchel said, “to narrow it down into a project and not lose the focus, to start in another competition, the Nations League. Then go into qualification and the tournament.” 
📩 (1) new message from Thomas Tuchel. pic.twitter.com/ADTVUHpnRN
There is no guarantee that World Cup qualification will start in March. That depends on the size of the Uefa qualifying group into which England are drawn in December. It is also a possibility that, were they not to win group B2, England may well be in the play-offs for Nations League promotion to the A tier which take place in March. Either way, the notion of the Nations League as a separate tournament does not resonate with anyone other than Uefa officials. 
It is essentially a glorified set of friendlies dressed up as something else, and with England having been relegated from the A tier – not a very good set of friendlies. Either way, what an England manager needs is games with his new players, regardless of what subset they might fall into. Tuchel and the FA appeared to be giving up the next two against Greece in Athens and the Republic of Ireland at Wembley next month. 
A critic of the demands of international football in the past, and the load it placed on weary, overworked players, Tuchel also pointed out in virtually the same breath that he would have little time to work with his players. Which begs the question: why is he waiting around? “We will have not a lot of time,” Tuchel said. “If you look at the schedule, and we hear the voices of the players, I think they have a reason [to complain about the number of games]. The schedule … to end the season with the Champions League final, then go to an international break, then have the Club World Cup is a very, very demanding schedule for the players.” 
Bullingham offered the argument that Lee Carsley, the beleaguered interim manager, had been promised the entirety of the six-game Nations League campaign. Quite why Carsley should be owed such a long sinecure by the FA was not clear, especially given that he is evidently finding it so uncomfortable. Indeed, the original statement on Carsley’s interim period was open-ended – “with a view,” the FA said, “to remaining in the position throughout autumn”. 
As to why the FA was keeping Carsley in a position that seems to have caused him a considerable amount of anguish, there was no answer. It may be that there is a reason concerning tax issues for Tuchel, who left Bayern Munich last summer. Perhaps it was a question of allowing a compensation clause to expire. Either way, Tuchel could not overemphasise how excited he was to start the job. Just not so excited that he wanted to start right away. 
Tuchel was evasive on the question of whether he would live permanently in England. It rather sounded like he would be shuttling back and forth to Germany where his children live. He said simply that he enjoyed living in England. “I am looking forward to living in England again. I want to be close to the Premier League and I want to be close to the majority of the players. But, of course, the schedule will obviously allow me to be close to my family, my children, in Germany.” 
The short contract reflects, most likely, the fact that both sides are still not quite sure of the other’s suitability. Tuchel referenced Bullingham and technical director John McDermott more than once – “Mark and John” – and that they had impressed on him “that it’s about football”. They will doubtless hope to shield him from the other issues that pursue England managers, although, in the end, all in the job find them hard to avoid. 
That will be the last we may see of Tuchel for the time being. He will no doubt reappear in January, in Premier League directors’ boxes watching the players under his charge. Irrespective of how next month’s games go, one can say that at least Carsley will not have to answer any more questions about his future. As for the new England manager – the wait goes on a little longer.