Eddie Howe says he was not interviewed for the England head coach position, but the Newcastle manager has not ruled himself out of being national team boss one day.
The Football Association announced on Wednesday that Thomas Tuchel was the permanent successor to Gareth Southgate, with the 51-year-old German having signed an 18-month contract through to the 2026 World Cup finals.
Magpies boss Howe was arguably the strongest English candidate in terms of his CV, but when asked on Friday whether he had been interviewed for the position, he said: “No, I wasn’t.”
Howe also said there had been no contact from the FA.
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said “approximately 10” candidates had been interviewed, including some from England.
Howe said he was glad the “distraction” over who would succeed Southgate was at an end, but said 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.
“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.
“I’m a day-to-day planner, while certainly acknowledging that Newcastle – I’ve always said this – has a future and we have to make sure we make the right decisions long term.
“But the job takes so many twists and turns, you can’t look too far ahead. I think that’s negative, actually, if you do that, so in terms of my own career and what’s five, 10 years ahead, I don’t know, I’ve got no idea.
“But I’d never say that managing England isn’t something I’d like to do maybe one day if given the opportunity, but my focus is Newcastle, Newcastle, Newcastle.”
Howe was asked whether it bothered him that there had been no contact.
“Absolutely not. 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,” he said.
“For me, it’s about Newcastle, it’s about trying to win games and it’s hard enough to do that if you’re 100 per cent focused, and I have always remained that way to my work.”
The FA declined to respond to Howe’s comments regarding the lack of contact.
It was reported earlier on Friday that the FA had been put off interviewing Howe by a £6million compensation payment which would have been due to Newcastle if they had appointed him.
Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta understood the disappointment in some quarters that the FA had not chosen an English candidate, but said the country should be proud that a high-profile overseas coach like Tuchel would be interested, and of how welcoming England was to overseas bosses generally.
“I think I would take a lot of pride that a lot of managers, a lot of people, would do anything to become the England manager,” the Spaniard said.
“And that’s related to, as foreigners, how we are treated in this country. How much we love the passion, the respect, the history, and the way things are done in this country.”
