Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has told The London Evening Standard that he may have been willing to become Newcastle United boss back in 2015.
Cast your mind back to the 2014-15 season; Newcastle lost boss Alan Pardew to Crystal Palace in December 2014, in a move that didn’t exactly upset fans.
The decision to give John Carver the job until the end of the season was somewhat controversial, and the Magpies needed a final day miracle to stay in the Premier League – which they got.
Newcastle chose to hold off appointing a full-time replacement in the middle of the season, and instead waited until the summer to make the big move for… Steve McClaren.
That’s right, the result of months of planning was McClaren, who didn’t even last a full season at Newcastle in a bizarre series of decisions.
The Chronicle noted that Newcastle were very keen to take Thomas Tuchel to St James’ Park having impressed in charge of Mainz – but their decision to wait until the end of the season saw them miss out to Borussia Dortmund.
Tuchel has since managed Paris Saint-Germain and now Chelsea, becoming one of the biggest names in management; that decision to wait for McClaren doesn’t look so clever now, does it?
Tonight, Tuchel takes on Newcastle as Chelsea boss, and he has admitted that he could have been interested in the job but was never contacted by the Magpies, leaving Mike Ashley somewhat embarrassed in the process.
“I was never in contact with anybody in Newcastle,” said Tuchel. “If they had contacted me, there would have been a chance because I’m a football fan, I know the stadium, I know the guys who played for Newcastle. I know the shirt, but I never had any contact with any official of Newcastle,” he added.
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