Mark Bullingham makes English coaches admission after Thomas Tuchel appointment | OneFootball

FA chief also explained decision to wait until January 1 for Tuchel to begin work

The Football Association's chief executive Mark Bullingham has acknowledged that the country has a deficit of world-class managers following the appointment of Thomas Tuchel as England head coach.

Bullingham, who led the recruitment process with the FA's technical director John McDermott, revealed they interviewed "approximately 10 candidates", some of whom were English, but believes Tuchel gives England "the best chance" of winning the 2026 World Cup.

There are just three English managers in the Premier League - Newcastle's Eddie Howe, who was in the frame for the job; Everton's Sean Dyche; and Russell Martin of Southampton - and Bullingham conceded that England is "not quite" producing as many top coaches as other nations.

He nonetheless believes the FA's development of players and coaches at St. George's Park has been a success but wants to see more English bosses in the top-flight.

Eddie Howe was one of the England coaches in the running

John Walton/PA Wire

"If you look at St. George’s Park [England's midlands training base] overall, I think it has been a really good success," Bullingham said at Tuchel's Wembley unveiling on Wednesday.

"Our pathway is really strong, both from a coaches and players point of view. There are a lot of fantastic young coaches around and obviously Anthony [Barry, who will assist Tuchel] is one of those.

"I think any federation in the world that is looking to hire a senior manager, clearly you would love to have five to 10 domestic candidates who are coaching clubs in your domestic league, challenging and winning honours in your domestic league and European football.

"We are not quite in that place at the moment. As we set out our process, our priority was to find someone that can give our players the best possible chance to win. We have found that, and we have got Thomas — and we are delighted with that.

“In the background, we have got to keep helping our young coaches to get the best opportunities they can and to get them good opportunities at clubs.

"We would love to have more English coaches managing in the Premier League, for example. I think there is a balance there.”

Bullingham also defended the decision to keep interim head coach Lee Carsley in charge for the likely conclusion of next month's Nations League campaign against Greece and the Republic of Ireland, with Tuchel set to start his role on January 1, despite currently being out of work.

Lee Carsley will lead England for the two Nations League matches next month

Getty Images

"We always said to Lee he would have three camps and we were very clear he’d run the Nations League campaign," Bullingham said.

"When we first spoke to Thomas he wanted to have a singular focus on the World Cup so it made sense on both sides for him to start on 1 January.

“It's a question of not allowing [Tuchel to start sooner]. When we first spoke to him, we had our timescale, Thomas had his timescale and it just fitted really well.

"What was so impressive was his singular focus on us and the World Cup and that project. It made sense for it to start on the first of January and made sense for Lee to finish the campaign in the Nations League. So we're very comfortable where we are and that's what we'll be doing."

Tuchel added: "It was important for me 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. I wanted to have a clean start and a bit of time to recharge fully and start in January and start the first camp in March."

England's Nations League campaign could run into Tuchel's tenure if they finish second in their group and are forced into the play-offs in March.