Colin Sheridan: Not being English makes Tuchel's job hard, being German makes it harder

Buoyed on by uproarious laughter, Redknapp doubled down with a “Ja!” and what might could be generously described as a stiff armed salute. Lest his antics be confused with Elon Musk, or Oswald Mosley, it is clear from the footage that Redknapp is joking. Even so, bringing a little Fawlty Towers banter to contemporary football conversation is a tad risqué, even for ‘Arry, who - ever the showman - I’m sure, never once thought the audience would betray the sanctity of the moment, they shared by filming it, and then posting a video about it.

Performative outrage will likely do some heavy lifting in the coming days. Context is everything, however, and a charity event with a room full of liquored up punters thirsty for laughter being given what they want by a man synonymous with witty anecdotes and plain-speak is not the story some may feel it is. Of much more relevance is the reminder that, whatever his credentials, Tuchel is under considerably more pressure because he is not English. And heaps more again because he is German.

Many a true word is spoken in jest, and while the former PSG, Chelsea and Dortmund boss is undoubtedly one of the top managers in football, his country of origin will absolutely be held against him should he do exactly as every other England boss since Alf Ramsey has done, and fail to win a major trophy. Even if he does win a World Cup or European Championships, he will receive at least 20% less credit than his predecessor Gareth Southgate would’ve enjoyed had he won anything.

It’s hardly a new phenomenon, and certainly not restricted to professional football. Kiwis Robbie Deans and Dave Rennie had their terms as Wallabies head coaches judged with an extra rival tax applied, especially by a notoriously unforgiving Australian media. 

Closer to home, too, there are examples aplenty of suspicion for an outsider only giving way to acceptance once success has been achieved. How many intercounty Gaelic football and hurling managers have had their county-of-origin weaponized against them when they inevitably fail to follow through on their PowerPoint promises made in windowless rooms the winter before? There are some who still believe Micky Harte was a plant smuggled into Derry to tank its burgeoning reputation as an All-Ireland contender. 

I’m sure former Roscommon great Shane Curran - who last week resigned as Carlow manager over 'player-related issues,' has gotten the Harry Redknapp treatment from experts on high-stools in Rathvilly and elsewhere. It’s the tax you pay for crossing borders.

So far, there has been little chance for Tuchel to separate himself from Southgate, Lee Carsley, Fabio Capello, Sam Allardyce or any other previous England manager. Even with a larger sample size of games, progress will be hard proved because England win almost every match they play, except the last one of every major tournament since 1966.

Harry Redknapp knew he was joking when he mused about him being a spy, but there’ll be some nutjob drinking ale down The Three Ferrets in St Ives who will be forever convinced that his England lost, not because the players weren’t good enough, but because the gaffer’s a bloody German.

More joined-up thinking required

In Galway, within four miles of each other, there are three sports stadiums. Pearse Stadium in Salthill has a capacity of 26,000 people. The Sportsground - home of Connacht Rugby - will soon be able to hold 12,000 punters as the redeveloped (and renamed) Dexcom Stadium. Eamon Deacy Park - where Galway United are currently lighting up the League of Ireland - boasts a tidy 5,000. 

Even for a small city with a population of about 85,000, it’s quite a lot of options for not a lot of teams. The recent arrival of floodlights at Pearse Stadium teased the possibility of more games at the GAA ground. By order, however, because the stadium is in a highly residential area, the lights can only be used 12 times a year with a 10pm cut-off and between October and March and strictly for matches. 

By my count, they were used just once this Spring, on the opening night of the National Football League when the Tribesmen hosted All Ireland champions Armagh. The cost of erecting the lights is believed to be in excess of €1 million, with €350,000 of that sum coming from government funding. 

I have no doubt that the planning considerations are well founded and based on sound logic, and that their debut season - curtailed as it is - will stand as an outlier of underuse in subsequent surveys. But I can’t help thinking there is a major duplication of effort in having three sports teams operating out of three distinct facilities, just miles apart from each other. 

What is true in Galway is also true in other cities and provincial towns in Ireland. Connacht’s Camino north to Castlebar over weekend served as yet another reminder that GAA stadia - with their bloated capacities that are rarely reached - need to be utilised more if for no other reason than to justify the vast amounts of taxpayers money spent on them.

Inaugural Dublin City Half-Marathon a success

Kudos to the organisers' - and the almost 12,000 athletes - who ran yesterday's inaugural Dublin City Half Marathon. The race - which was won by Killian Mooney from Dundrum South Dublin AC in time of 1 hr and 40 seconds - proved the popularity of road-running in Ireland has arguably never been as high. The timing of the event, too, coming as it does at a strategic point in many spring-marathon training programs, hopefully points to an event that will be a fixture on sporting calendars for many years to come.

Lowry can pull off smash and grab

Augusta and the US Masters signals the proper arrival of Spring, and the promise of another epic sporting year for Irish golfers. While Rory McIlroy’s quest to conquer his Amen Corner demons will dominate all the pre-tournament talk, Shane Lowry - making his tenth Masters start - might just be ready to double his Major haul and add to his Open Championship from 2019. In decent form so far this year, Augusta presents the perfect opportunity for the Clara man to capitalise on eyeballs being elsewhere and perform a smash-and-grab. While both golfers are far too talented not to win another major, history tells us talent does not make it so. What a welcome sight it would be to see either of them in Green next Sunday.