Following Frank Lampard’s departure from the club, Chelsea have turned to 47 year-old German manager Thomas Tuchel to take over. Tuchel joins Chelsea on a contract that will see him through to the end of the 2022-23 season.
Tuchel’s Managerial History
Tuchel was last in charge of French giants PSG. Since starting his managerial career at Augsburg in 2007, the German has twice been hired as Jürgen Klopp’s replacement. First at Mainz, when Klopp left for Borussia Dortmund. Then at Dortmund when Klopp left for Liverpool.
The first trophy won by a Tuchel coached senior team was when Dortmund won the 2016-17 DFB Pokal. Dortmund took out favourites Bayern Munich in the semi-final before defeating Eintracht Frankfurt in the cup final.
While at Dortmund, he promoted current Chelsea winger Christian Pulisic from the youth team as a 16 year-old.
After setting the record for the most points earned by a second placed team in Bundesliga season, and just three days after winning the DFB Pokal, Dortmund fired Tuchel. This was the result of a problematic relationship with CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke and the Dortmund board. They disagreed on certain transfers, while Tuchel publicly criticised UEFA’s actions in the aftermath of the Dortmund bus attack and the club for their lack of response.
Tuchel enjoyed more success at PSG, winning Ligue 1 in both seasons he was there. PSG also won the 2019/20 Coupe de France, 2019/20 Coupe de la Ligue and the 2018/19 and 2019/20 Trophée des Champions.
However, Tuchel’s relationship with the board was poor at PSG too. Similar to his time at Dortmund, Tuchel openly criticised the club’s transfer policy and damaged his relationship with Sporting Director, Leonardo. An interview he gave in December 2020 proved to be the final straw, with PSG sacking him the day after.
Tuchel at Chelsea
Tuchel brings undoubted experience at the top level of European football. Seven seasons in the Bundesliga and two with the biggest club in Ligue 1. The English Premier League is obviously different, but we have seen managers make the jump successfully before. Reigning champion Liverpool’s manager Klopp served almost the same apprenticeship at Mainz to Tuchel.
This experience is his big point of difference over Lampard. While Lampard is a ‘Chelsea man’, he did only have that one Championship season with Derby before being thrown into the deep end of managing Chelsea.
There will be immense pressure from the Chelsea hierarchy to turn the season around, and how Tuchel handles it will go a long way to determining how his tenure will go. If Tuchel and the board disagree, and he decides to be open in his criticisms again, Roman Abrahamovic will be as impatient as Watzke and Leonardo.
