After word emerged last week that Jurgen Klinsmann had declared his interest in succeeding Roy Hodgson in the newly vacant England manager job, we wrote that we were skeptical that he’d make such an advance, and more cynical yet that he’d take such a job – were it to even be offered to him.
But on Tuesday, England’s Daily Telegraph reported that Klinsmann is on the shortlist for the job. And let’s establish here that the Telegraph, a respected broadsheet, has a much stronger record of getting this sort of thing right than a lot of other English newspapers. Unlike the tabloids, it doesn’t report things unless they are credibly sourced.
So this is meaningful.
Dan Ashworth, the Football Association technical director, will this week begin speaking to candidates for the England job and is ready to look abroad to find the right man. …… Other than considering the links of Sam Allardyce, Eddie Howe and a temporary move for Glenn Hoddle, Ashworth is now ready to talk to foreign managers – even if they have no experience in English football. …… Jürgen Klinsmann and Laurent Blanc are on Ashworth’s list of candidates, along with West Ham manager Slaven Bilic and Leicester City’s Claudio Ranieri.
Per the Telegraph, Brendan Rodgers was a front-runner, but the former Liverpool manager has already taken the Celtic job in Scotland. Arsene Wenger, the longtime Arsenal boss, is a perennial favorite for the job, but he has another year to run on his contract. Gareth Southgate, the England under-21 manager, apparently was lukewarm about being an interim solution. The English candidates, meanwhile, are unexciting, moving the FA to look abroad. This is something it historically didn’t do for many decades, until Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello were installed.
Of those candidates mentioned, Bilic and Ranieri are firmly and successfully ensconced in their jobs with West Ham United and Leicester City, respectively, and unlikely to want to make such a move at the moment.
That seems to leave Blanc and Klinsmann in strong positions. The former was just fired by Paris Saint-Germain and has experience as the France manager, taking the team he once helped to World Cup and Euro titles as a player to the quarterfinals of Euro 2012 in charge of Les Bleus.
Then there’s Klinsmann who, well, you know. His five years in charge of the United States have been, um, shall we say, mixed. A sizable portion of the U.S. men’s national team fan base would welcome his departure, suffering from a sort of Klinsmann fatigue stemming from years of plentiful and beautiful promises followed up with few tangible results or signs of progress. But a run to the semifinals of the Copa America Centenario on home soil redeemed him somewhat. And Klinsmann remains popular in England for his time as Tottenham Hotspur’s star striker and respected for his success as Germany manager.
This isn’t yet a thing, exactly.
 | @JeffreyCarlisle | |||||||
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But it might become one.
Because this whole Klinsmann-to-England rumor looks a whole lot more likely to happen than it did a few days ago.
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