Tuchel making brilliant impact - FA chief Bullingham

Football Association chief Mark Bullingham says Thomas Tuchel has already made an "absolutely brilliant impact" since becoming manager of the England men's team.

Tuchel was appointed successor to Gareth Southgate in October with his 18-month contract beginning on 1 January.

The German will take charge of his first match on 21 March when England face Albania in their opening 2026 World Cup qualifier.

"Thomas has made an absolutely brilliant impact He's really galvanised the team and integrated some of his own people into our existing team and they're getting on very well," Bullingham told the BBC's sports editor Dan Roan.

"He's made very good connections with the players and he's been to a lot of games. He's energised and it's going really well."

The FA has been criticised for allowing Tuchel to partly work remotely from his home in Germany, but Bullingham said: "We're very happy with the job he's doing. We feel he's hit the ground running and is doing a brilliant job already.

"We have two coaches who are not English [Tuchel and Lionesses manager Sarina Wiegman, who is Dutch] and both of them have the opportunity to go home occasionally. We're employing Thomas to galvanise the team and win matches, and we think he will do that."

Bullingham added that he is making changes to the FA's coaching education team in order to give those coming through the coaching pathway "the support they need to get the jobs at the top level in club football that would make them eligible for the England job".

Last Friday, representatives from all 23 clubs across the Women's Super League (WSL) and Women's Championship attended a meeting, during which they discussed a suggestion to temporarily scrap relegation from the WSL, but still allow one club a season to earn promotion from the second tier.

On Thursday Nikki Doucet, chief executive of the Women's Professional Leagues Limited that oversees the top two tiers, said that the backlash against the proposal "has not changed our perspective" on changes.

The FA would have to approve the change and Bullingham said: "If the overall package is good for the women's game in terms of looking at pathways, academies, minimum standards and helping grow the women's game overall, then we'd be receptive.

"We would never accept a closed league in the long term but provided in the short term there is promotion into it and it grows organically that way then we could see ourselves being supportive. But we're not quite at that stage yet of having the full package of measures to look at."

The Football Governance Bill, which will establish a first independent regulator for the professional men's game in England, is currently making its way through the House of Lords before being debated by MPs in the Commons.

The bill was recently branded a "waste of money" by Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, while Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy recently warned peers in the Lords it is "not acceptable to use parliamentary procedures to try to block" the bill.

The Premier League has expressed concern that a regulator would have "unprecedented and untested powers to intervene in the distribution of [its] revenues", and that it would negatively impact competitiveness and investment.

"As the legislation stands, we're OK with it," Bullingham said.

"We can support it because we think it only focuses on financial regulation. Our position all the way through has been that if it focuses on financial regulation, helping the small number of clubs that need support to make sure they are financially sustainable, then we think that's a good thing.

"If it starts going beyond that then that's where we would get uncomfortable, as would Fifa and Uefa."

Another issue pertinent to fans is increasing ticket prices, with the Football Supporters' Association's 'Stop Exploiting Loyalty' campaign calling on the Premier League clubs to freeze prices for the 2025-26 season.

When asked if clubs should be listening to fans on such issues, Bullingham said: "It's incumbent on all fans to have that good relationship with their clubs and vice versa. We certainly have a good relationship with our fan groups and make sure that we listen to them on key issues."