Thomas Tuchel has declared that he won’t sing God Save The King at his first matches as England manager – because he feels he needs to “earn” the right to sing the English national anthem. Former Chelsea head coach Tuchel is the first German ever to take the job and is acutely aware of the spotlight that will be on him during the anthems. Lee Carsley, Tuchel’s predecessor who has now returned to managing the England under-21s, refused to join in with singing the anthem after replacing Gareth Southgate as interim boss and faced criticism.
Tuchel named his first 26-man Three Lions squad on Friday morning ahead of his debut matches against Albania and Latvia in 2026 World Cup qualifiers. And the 51-year-old confirmed hours later of singing God Save The King despite being German: “I have made my decision. I think first of all, you have a very powerful, emotional and meaningful national anthem, and I could not be more proud to be on the sideline and be in charge of the English national team.
“It means everything. It means a lot to me, I can assure you. But I can feel it because it is that meaningful and it is that emotional and it is so powerful the national anthem that I have to earn my right to sing it. I feel that it is not just a given. You cannot just sing it. That’s why I decided that I will not sing it in my first matches.
“I will earn it with results, with building a group, with doing my job properly and by creating a feeling where maybe even you guys say at some point ‘Now it’s time that you sing it, it feels like you need to properly earn it and you’re a proper English guy now!’
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it.”
Tuchel’s squad announcement produced a mixed reaction on Friday. The inclusion of 34-year-old former Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, recalled for the first time since November 2023 despite rarely starting for Ajax recently, raised several eyebrows.
But the new England manager explained: “I gave him a call and he said he’s pickable all the time, the club manages his minutes to bring him through the season. This was the foundation for the decision. He is also a serial winner.
“He is still the leader there, he is the vice captain there (at Ajax) and brings to the team what he brings to every team. In terms of leadership, character, personality, energy, and because he made himself available by the way he played and the minutes he played we had the chance to bring him back.
“He will help talent to grow. He will help the talents to be there. If we nominate now everyone who is 20 because they’re then 22 in America this will not work. Jordan will make sure at the moment, in this camp, for everyone to be a better version. He will help us to build a team. I am very sure of that, otherwise I would not have done it.”
