Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said Friday he was not contacted by the Football Association during the search for a new England manager, which ended with the appointment of Thomas Tuchel.
The FA announced on Wednesday that the former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss would be the permanent successor to Gareth Southgate, taking up his post from January.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said the governing body had “interviewed approximately 10 people” including some English candidates before opting for the German.
Howe, one of only a handful of English coaches in the Premier League, was arguably the strongest homegrown candidate.
But when asked at his pre-match press conference whether he had been interviewed for the position, he said: “No, I wasn’t.”
Howe, whose team host Brighton on Saturday, said there had been no contact from the FA.
The Newcastle boss said he was glad the “distraction” over who would succeed Southgate was at an end, but that he might be interested in the future.
“There was no one more pleased than me to see Thomas get the job, really, and take it because it’s just a distraction — not that it distracts me, but you can see it’s unsettling at times when certain things are said and written about,” he said.
“The more that everyone can focus on Newcastle, which has always been my only concern, the better.”
Asked whether he might be interested one day, Howe said: “Who knows? I’ve always said that you can never predict what’s going to happen in management, you can never plan too far ahead. I certainly don’t.”
Howe was asked whether it bothered him that there had been no contact from the FA.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “England have to do what is right for them and only they will know the processes they’ve gone through and the decisions that they’ve made, and I’m certainly not the type of person that’s going to analyse that.”
It was reported on Friday that the FA had been put off interviewing Howe by a hefty compensation payment that would have been due to Newcastle if they had appointed him.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said at his own press conference on Friday that he did not speak to the FA over the England job but described Tuchel as “one of the best coaches in the world”.
“The way his teams are set up… it’s very exciting times,” he said. I spoke to a few players, they had a smile in their faces. That’s a great sign.”
The Spaniard was asked about the appointment of a non-Englishman to the national job.
“I would take a lot of pride that a lot of people and managers would do anything to become the England manager,” he said.
