Don’t expect new England manager Thomas Tuchel to be a shrinking violet on the touchline when he takes the Three Lions into battle.
While Gareth Southgate might have been unwilling to stir the pot and boasted an impeccable disciplinary record, you can anticipate plenty of fireworks with the combustible German around.
Tuchel’s combative nature was never better exemplified than during his astonishing bust-up with the equally tempestuous Antonio Conte during Chelsea’s clash with Tottenham at Stamford Bridge two years ago.
The pair had clashed earlier during a pulsating London derby, with Conte having been agitated by Tuchel running the length of the touchline to celebrate a goal that had given his side the lead.
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Harry Kane’s late header, however, salvaged a point for Spurs and offered Conte the invitation to indulge in an equally over the top celebration.
The final whistle blew moments later and with tempers still red hot, the pair went to complete the perfunctory post match handshake which turned into something of a macho tug of war with neither man willing to back down.
The Football Association ultimately fined the pair, banned them for one game apiece and published their version of events.
‘He grabbed my hand and did not release his grip,’ Conte wrote in his letter to the governing body.
‘Due to his very firm grip my arm jarred causing me to be pulled backwards.
The Spurs boss said he was ‘surprised and unhappy that such handshake caused me to be pulled back with such physical force’.
Tuchel, meanwhile, said Conte ‘took my hand but did not look at me’. The Chelsea boss explained that a lack of respect was why he held on to his hand ‘and told him to look me in the eyes when he shakes’.
Why Chelsea sacked Thomas Tuchel
Incredibly, despite his popularity and track record, Tuchel was dismissed just a fortnight after his spat with Conte with Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly claiming the former PSG boss was sacked because they did not ‘share a vision’ for the club’s future.
Tuchel was dismissed after 20 months in charge having helped the club win the Champions League, the Club World Cup and the UEFA Super Cup during his reign.
After a difficult summer in the transfer market, Chelsea made an inconsistent start to the Premier League campaign with just three wins in their opening six fixtures.
A 1-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League was the final straw and Tuchel was sacked less than 24 hours after the loss in Croatia.
‘When you take over any business you just have to make sure you’re aligned with the people who are operating the business,’ Boehly said at SALT Conference in New York on Tuesday.
‘I think Tuchel is obviously extremely talented and someone who had great success with Chelsea.
‘Our vision for the club was finding a manager who really wanted collaborate with us, a coach who really wanted to collaborate.
‘I think there’s a lot of walls to break down at Chelsea. Before, for example the first team and the academy didn’t really share data, they didn’t share information about where the top players were coming from.
‘So our goal is to really bring a team together that, with the academy, with the first team, with the incremental clubs we want to acquire and develop, all of that need to be a well-oiled machine.
‘And the reality of our decision was that we just weren’t sure that Thomas saw the same way we saw. No one’s right or wrong, it’s just we didn’t share a vision for the future. It wasn’t about soccer, it was really about the shared vision for what we wanted Chelsea Football Club to look like.
‘It wasn’t a decision that was made as a result of a single win or loss. It was a decision that was made really about what we thought was the right vision for the club.’
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