Online Reporter
WHEN Jude Bellingham appeared frustrated during England’s drab World Cup draw with Ghana, manager Thomas Tuchel grabbed his face and gave the star midfielder an encouraging smile.
Later in the goalless game, the German born coach could be seen gesticulating furiously to his players to get forward.
Welcome to the passionate world of Tuchel, providing a rollercoaster ride to match England’s unpredictable performances during this summer’s World Cup. Tuesday night’s game might have been boring, but there rarely is a dull moment with the manager who used to be a waiter in a bar.
From inspiring a brilliant second half against Croatia in England’s opening game by telling his side not to be afraid to lose, to forcing cameramen to step away from the dugout so he can watch the players sing the national anthem, Tuchel lets his feelings be known.Off the field he has been meticulous in building team harmony and a sense of fun. When England’s stars arrived at their base camp in Kansas City in the United States they found a “family box” containing home comforts such as Lego or Haribo sweets.
The personal touches continued with slushie drinks being given pun-tastic titles such as Ice, Rice Baby in honour of Declan Rice and Thomas Too Cool as a play on the manager’s name.
It will be reassuring to fans to know that the spirit in camp is so strong and that the players like their determined boss.
Even though he won the Champions League title for Chelsea he was ditched by the London side’s owner Todd Boehly and he left Bayern Munich when there was ill feeling in the dressing room.After leading Mainz to European qualification in 2014 he suddenly announced he was quitting as his players were celebrating their victory.
Those people who know him from his early days, tell how high standards are in Tuchel’s DNA.
Born in the town of Krumbach in Bavaria, his dad Rudolf was an engineer who coached the local football team and his mum Gabriele was a special needs teacher. A school yearbook from when he was aged around 18 described jokingly as a “chronic complainer”. In the Augsburg academy, which he left aged 19, Tuchel also earned a reputation for being “demanding” of his team mates.
Sadly, his career as a central defender ended prematurely due to injury at the age of 24 in 1998 having played for Stuttgart Kickers and FC Ulm in Germany outside of the top league.
Unsure what to do with his life he decided to study business administration and waited tables at Stuttgart’s Radio Bar in order to fund the course.
Tuchel enjoyed interacting with the customers at the bar, saying: “I had overcome the inhibition of asking strangers if they needed me.
“And suddenly I realised, your colleagues like you simply for your manner. They have no idea you used to be a professional footballer. They’ve accepted you as you are.”
Fortunately, his football career was not over. He was invited to coach youth team players at Stuttgart by Ralf Rangnick, who is now managing Austria at the World Cup.The idiosyncratic Tuchel drove an old convertible Saab and wore old military clothes while working at the academy.
After that he became the coach of Augsburg’s second team, where he showed a proven eye for spotting talent.He thought player Julian Nagelsmann, who is now Germany’s manager, would be a good coach and asked him to prepare reports on opposing teams.Nagelsmann admitted: “He thought I had the talent for it. Going into coaching never occurred to me.”
At Mainz Tuchel was promoted from under-coach to manager in 2009 in a shock move.This was also the year he also married journalist Elisabeth, known as Sissi, with whom he had two daughters Emma and Kim.
It was even more of a surprise when Tuchel announced he was quitting management after leading Mainz to Europe in 2014.
Next up was Borussia Dortmund, where he won the equivalent of the FA Cup and finished second in the league during a three year tenure.
Tuchel showed he cared about his team when the team bus was struck by a pipe bomb in 2017 ahead of their Champions league quarter final match against Monaco.
He tried to prevent the game going ahead, knowing that some of the footballers had been traumatised by the attack, but the authorities forced them to take to the field just 24 hours later.
It was the final straw for Tuchel who then became manager of PSG, winning the French league and taking the team to the Champions League final.Colourful language could be heard in the dressing room. Star striker Kylian Mbappe said the only German word he’d learned from Tuchel was “scheisse” (s**t).
Off the field, Tuchel displayed a softer side, paying for his housekeeper’s son to have life saving heart surgery.— Sun.
