Thomas Tuchel plans to “earn” the right to sing the national anthem after revealing he will not join in with God Save the King during his first games as England boss.
Tuchel has named a 26-man squad for this month’s World Cup qualifiers with Albania and Latvia and spent almost 90 minutes talking to the media at Wembley on Friday.
The topic of the national anthem was raised again, as it had been at Tuchel’s unveiling in October, and the 51-year-old German explained his approach to the issue ahead of his debut in the England dugout against Albania on March 21.
“I think, first of all, you have a very powerful, emotional and meaningful national anthem and I could not be more proud to be on the sidelines and be in charge of the English national team,” Tuchel told the written media.
“It means everything. It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel because it is that meaningful and it is that emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it.
“I feel that it is not just a given. You cannot just sing it. That’s why I decided that I will not sing it in my first matches.
“I will earn it with results, with building a group, with doing my job properly and by creating a feeling where maybe even you guys say at some point, ‘Now it’s time that you sing it, it feels like you properly earned it and you’re a proper English guy now’.
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like, ‘He should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’.”
Watch the pick of Thomas Tuchel’s press conference after he names his first England squad that sees a return for Jordan Henderson, Marcus Rashford and a call-up for Arsenal youngster Myles Lewis-Skelly
Lee Carsley made headlines during his interim spell in charge of England last year when he declined to sing the national anthem.
In one of many light-hearted moments in Friday’s press conference, London-based Tuchel confirmed he did know the words to God Save the King, while he also defended his work-life balance after missing certain Premier League fixtures during the first 10 weeks of his tenure.
“I was at 25 matches in the last nine weeks,” Tuchel added. “Maybe I could have gone to 28, but…
“On the Premier League weekends where I don’t go, I watch a minimum of five matches live on a wide-angle screen.
“I watch more if you don’t see me than if you see me in the stadium, because if I go to the stadium on a Saturday, I don’t see the match before and I don’t see the match after.
Sky Sports senior reporter Rob Dorsett gives his verdict on Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad – a squad that has included a fair few surprises!
“It would be interesting if you make the effort to compare the live views to any other head coach out there in international football, because I think I did more live matches than anyone else.
“Listen, I need a little bit of trust from you that you trust me to do the job on a high intensity and in the best way possible.
“There is no secret behind it that I travel from time to time to see my children in Munich. And that’s basically it. My girls are used to watching Premier League on TV.
“On these weekends you mention, they are with their father or they are in the next room and they know that I’m watching. There’s no more to it.”
