Newcastle's Howe says he was not contacted by FA for England job

Thomas Tuchel has been appointed as England national team head coach to become the permanent successor to Gareth Southgate. The former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss will begin his journey with the Three Lions from January, the FA announced on Wednesday. FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said the 10 potential candidates were interviewed for the job, including some English coaches.
From the English coaches in the Premier League, Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe was arguably the strongest homegrown candidate. However, when asked whether he had been interviewed for the role, he said: "No, I wasn't". Howe, whose team play Brighton on Saturday, said that he was not contacted by the FA. Although the Magpies head coach said he was glad the "distraction" was over, he equally said that he might be interested in the position one day.
"There was no one more pleased than me to see Thomas get the job, really, and take it because it's just a distraction -- not that it distracts me, but you can see it's unsettling at times when certain things are said and written about," he revealed during the press conference ahead of the Brighton clash. "The more that everyone can focus on Newcastle, which has always been my only concern, the better."
On whether he might be interested in the future, the Englishman said: "Who knows? I've always said that you can never predict what's going to happen in management, you can never plan too far ahead. I certainly don't". Howe was asked whether it bothered him that the FA had not tried to reach out. "Absolutely not," he said. "England have to do what is right for them and only they will know the processes they've gone through and the decisions that they've made, and I'm certainly not the type of person that's going to analyse that." Reports released on Friday claim that the FA put off interviewing Howe due to a significant compensation payment that would have been made to Newcastle if they had appointed him.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta gave his own reaction to Tuchel's appointment, naming the German international as "one of the best coaches in the world" in his press conference. "The way his teams are set up... it's very exciting times," he said. I spoke to a few players, they had a smile in their faces. That's a great sign." he said on Friday. The Spaniard was asked about the appointment of a foreign manager to the national team. "I would take a lot of pride that a lot of people and managers would do anything to become the England manager," he explained.