The fact that Thomas Tuchel has made Anthony Barry his assistant coach is clever in more ways than one. There is already bold speculation about Barry’s future.
Gary Neville is “shocked” that England has made Thomas Tuchel, a foreigner, their new national coach, while his fellow TV pundit Jamie Carragher finds it “shameful”. And on Thursday, the yellow press even called it a “dark day for England”.
One thing is already clear: Tuchel, who smiled as he apologized at his presentation for unfortunately having a German passport, will only appease the patriots on the island with the targeted World Cup title, if at all. In doing so, a man has risen in his shadow whom some already consider to be one of England’s greatest coaching talents.
Anthony Barry, a native of Liverpool, will assist Tuchel as he did at Chelsea and Bayern Munich, continuing his rapid rise as a coach. It was only seven years ago that the now 38-year-old initially took on the role of assistant coach to Paul Cook at third-division club Wigan Athletic in 2017, despite initial resistance from the club.
Three years later, he was suddenly part of the Chelsea FC coaching staff: Frank Lampard, who was then in charge of the Blues, had completed his coaching education with Barry at the FA, which he completed with a study of throw-ins in the 2018-19 Premier League season.
As a Standard expert, he was so well liked that Lampard’s successors Graham Potter and Tuchel also relied on him. At the same time, he took on second jobs with the Irish (under Stephen Kenny), Belgian and Portuguese national teams (both under Roberto Martinez), which earned him places at the 2022 World Cup and 2024 European Championship.
Barry has already “helped Tuchel a lot”
National team newcomer Tuchel will also benefit massively from this. “He has already helped me a lot to better understand the process and the nomination process and to get a feel for what we are talking about here,” Tuchel said on Wednesday about Barry, whom he successfully brought to Munich in spring 2023 after a long tug-of-war: ”We are now working together for the third time, and I am very happy to have him at my side. He is full of energy and a fantastic coach, and he has a lot of experience in international football.”
England’s coaches, Neville had said, ‘have the worst reputation in Europe.’ With Barry, someone is obviously getting ready to change that. It seems like it’s only a matter of time before he takes on the role of head coach himself. There were apparently plenty of inquiries during his Chelsea days, and one possible career path has been on the table since Wednesday: “Could Tuchel’s successor be standing in front of us?” asked the Guardian. The Patriots would be thrilled.