Chelsea boss Tuchel reveals how close he came to managing Newcastle in 2015

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 2 min read

Thomas Tuchel says he would have been interested in becoming Newcastle manager back in 2015, but claims there were no talks between him and the club about taking over at St James’ Park.

After Alan Pardew left for Crystal Palace in the winter of 2014, assistant coach John Carver was appointed until the end of the 2014/15 season.

However, Newcastle were still looking for a new, permanent boss to come in throughout the second half of that campaign, and reports emerged at the time that they were looking at Tuchel, who was out of work after leaving Mainz in May of 2014.

Eventually, they missed out on the German as he would become Dortmund boss in April of 2015, while the Magpies appointed Steve McLaren that summer.

Although Tuchel insists there wasn’t actually any contact between himself and Newcastle, he would have been intrigued by the prospect of becoming manager six years ago.

“I was never in contact with anybody in Newcastle,” he revealed to Football.London.

“If they had contacted me there would have been a chance because I’m a football fan, I know the stadium, I know the guys who played for Newcastle, I know the shirt, but I never had any contact with any official of Newcastle.”

Following a period at Dortmund, Tuchel would eventually go on to become head coach at PSG, where he guided the Ligue 1 side to their first ever Champions League final.

In the middle of the 2020/21 season, he was sacked by PSG after falling out with sporting director Leonardo.

That would, however, present Tuchel with the opportunity to come in and replace under-fire Chelsea manager Frank Lampard.

The Blues are unbeaten in five matches since he took over, winning four and drawing one, putting them just one point behind champions Liverpool in fourth and back in contention for the Champions League qualification positions after previously falling down the table.