{"id":546952,"date":"2026-07-13T06:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T06:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/546952\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T06:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T06:14:08","slug":"ken-early-jude-bellingham-could-be-the-de-facto-manager-of-england-for-a-long-time-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/546952\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken Early: Jude Bellingham could be the de facto manager of England for a long time \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some people think internal harmony is an essential element of a winning team. Others, like the cynic Steve Archibald, classify it alongside \u201cteam spirit\u201d as \u201can illusion glimpsed in the aftermath of victory\u201d.<\/p>\n

While people vary in their estimation of its importance, most seem to agree it\u2019s generally a good thing. But what is the best way to actually achieve it?<\/p>\n

If winning the World Cup is about harmony, then Fifa should follow their hearts and just give it to Argentina already. Lionel Scaloni has talked so much about the importance of barbecues over the last few weeks that he starts to sound like the guru of some meat-worshipping cult.<\/p>\n

\"\"Zut Alors! – Ken Early in Boston, Gavin Cooney and Malachy Clerkin on the business end of the World Cup, At home with Malcolm <\/p>\n

Argentina arrived in America with 500kg of meat, which actually doesn\u2019t sound like enough, judging by how often they mention it. The apparent idea behind all the barbecues is that forging deep personal bonds between the players helps to unite their emotional energy in pursuit of the common goal.<\/p>\n

In all of their knockout games so far, Argentina have gone through periods where they look like a clown car on fire, but they keep coming through in the end and then everyone weeps in each other\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n

You do notice, though, that all this harmony exists under the benevolent despotism of a Sun King. Lionel Messi\u2019s status as the best and most important player is undisputed. He is a mighty oak and the rest contentedly eat barbecue in his shade.<\/p>\n

France, too, appear to be experiencing a moment of harmony, with the players regarding Didier Deschamps, who has managed the national team since most of them were boys, as a kindly uncle.<\/p>\n

\"KylianKylian Mbapp\u00e9 has ‘a relaxed style of leadership’. Photograph: Nicol\u00f2 Campo\/LightRocket via Getty Images <\/p>\n

But the senior figure in the dressingroom is not really Deschamps, who is more of an overseer. It\u2019s the man the other players jokingly call Mobutu. Actually, the memes depict Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 as a dictator more in the visual style of Idi Amin, but the real Mbapp\u00e9 has a more relaxed style of leadership. More relevant is that France look like another example of the benefits of a clear, undisputed hierarchy.<\/p>\n

Spain, more than any of the other remaining teams, are united by a style \u2013 the Spanish idea of how to play football, or at least the idea of Spanish football that has dominated there for 20 years. The captain is Rodri and he\u2019s the purest exponent of that style. But Spain\u2019s best player is Lamine Yamal, who represents something different: dribbling, unpredictability, uncanny individual talent.<\/p>\n

Yamal\u2019s performances so far have been way short of his best. He came into the tournament injured and most people have excused his average form as related to this lack of fitness or sharpness.<\/p>\n

But maybe there\u2019s also an element of tension, of the star being slightly out of sync with the rest. There were times in the quarter-final against Belgium when team-mates seemed frustrated with his refusals to pass. (If an Argentina player ever felt himself doubting one of Messi\u2019s on-field decisions, he would regard it as thoughtcrime and suppress it immediately). Maybe this Spain are a little less harmonic than the first two.<\/p>\n

\"RodriRodri and Yamal of Spain celebrate after the 2-1 victory over Belgium in the quarterfinal. Photograph: Sarah Stier\/Fifa via Getty Images <\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s England, where possible internal disharmony is the big current talking point.<\/p>\n

The interviews of Thomas Tuchel and Jude Bellingham after the quarter-final victory against Norway were more spectacular than the game.<\/p>\n

A lot has been said about these interviews \u2013 much of it centring on the supposed malpractice of ITV\u2019s experienced interviewer, Gabriel Clarke. Some of Clarke\u2019s critics alleged that he was being obtuse when he asked Tuchel whether his team\u2019s difficulties had something to do with \u201cmentality\u201d, after the manager had stated clearly that he was unhappy with the low quality of their technical performance.<\/p>\n

But given that Tuchel had just accused a group of highly skilled internationals of suddenly being unable to execute basic technical tasks, Clarke was entitled to ask why that might be so. It\u2019s not unreasonable to wonder whether the problem might somehow be in the players\u2019 heads. Hence, Clarke\u2019s reference to mentality, which Tuchel appeared to take as an insulting suggestion that his team lacked the will to win.<\/p>\n

Clarke was even criticised for putting the fact that Tuchel had just expressed unhappiness with the performance to Bellingham. ITV\u2019s man has been painted as a villain plotting to divide and sabotage the team, even though getting people to react to the reactions of others is the basic material of post-match discussion and analysis.<\/p>\n

No one can deny that Clarke\u2019s question to Bellingham revealed something interesting. Bellingham\u2019s reaction to Tuchel\u2019s supposed dissatisfaction was more contemptuous than Tuchel\u2019s reaction to Clarke.<\/p>\n

“Maybe he doesn’t know what it’s like to play in those conditions.”\ud83d\ude33<\/p>\n

Jude Bellingham spoke openly about Thomas Tuchel being critical of England’s performance against Norway. pic.twitter.com\/aJgDGEVNfX<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) July 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Another reporter, Rob Dorsett of Sky, asked Bellingham in a later interview if the fact that Tuchel was unhappy with the performance meant that there was even more to come from this team.<\/p>\n

Bellingham replied: \u201cMaybe, or maybe that means he doesn\u2019t know what it\u2019s like to play in those kind of conditions against Erling Haaland, \u00d8degaard, Nusa, Sorloth \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

We should be clear: this was a calculated insult against a coach who didn\u2019t have a top-level playing career. Would Bellingham have said anything like this about his former manager at Real Madrid, the decorated Roma, Milan and Italy midfielder Carlo Ancelotti? Clearly not.<\/p>\n

Did Tuchel really think he could talk that way about Bellingham, could criticise his attitude, could flirt publicly with the idea of leaving him on the bench, and leave his friend at Real Madrid, Trent Alexander-Arnold, out of the squad \u2013 did Tuchel think he could do all that, and get away with it?<\/p>\n

Miguel Delaney of independent.co.uk wrote a couple of weeks ago on how Bellingham\u2019s role models are not ex-England footballers, but American superstars like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and he who still towers above all the rest \u2013 Michael Jordan (MJ).<\/p>\n

\"DoubleDouble act? Jude Bellingham with manager Thomas Tuchel during the game against Norway. Photograph: Eddie Keogh\/the FA via Getty Images <\/p>\n

Since The Last Dance, everyone knows that the key to MJ\u2019s greatness, at least according to MJ, is his lifelong habit of relentlessly dominating and punishing everyone who ever looked at him funny, expressed in the catchphrase, \u201cI took that personally\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bellingham is MJ now and MJ does not forgive or forget. He has scored six goals and won four man-of-the-match awards in six World Cup games and he\u2019s cracking the whip on Tuchel, who needs to understand that his new job, for as long as he can stand it, is to be Bellingham\u2019s aide and facilitator.<\/p>\n

It will be the same for whoever succeeds Tuchel as England\u2019s puppet coach. Jude Bellingham could be the de facto manager of England for a long time to come.<\/p>\n

Some in England, where they traditionally exalt the role of the manager, will greet this development with scepticism and foreboding. But the examples of Argentina and France suggest that the emergence among the players of a new universally acknowledged King of the national team might not actually be a bad thing.<\/p>\n

Submitting to the reign of Bellingham might not even be that big of a leap for the English. They already know the words. God save the King! Long live the King! May the King live forever!<\/p>\n

(Although, as the example of Portugal\u2019s national team suggests, the last part is best not taken literally). <\/p>\n

World Cup Wallchart<\/p>\n