By. Alex Howell. Football reporter. 1 hour ago. 82 Comments. Ten years ago he was a lower-league footballer nearing the end of his career and starting work as a coach at Accrington Stanley.. Now, Anthony Barry is preparing to head to the World Cup as Thomas Tuchel’s assistant – the only Englishman in the core backroom coaching team.. For a 39-year-old, he has an incredible CV as an elite coach with prior experience at Chelsea, Bayern Munich and the Portugal and Belgium national teams.. It is one of the most remarkable rises in football.. Liverpool-born Barry describes himself as the yin to Tuchel’s yang and acknowledges their partnership can “look a bit strange at times” because of their difference in height and bakcground.. “It’s little and large from the outside,” he says, with an infectious smile that barely leaves his face during a 10-minute interview with BBC Sport.. Football Daily: Anthony Barry on Thomas Tuchel and the World Cup. Barry’s journey to working with Tuchel. Barry’s first coaching job after retiring as a player was as assistant manager at Wigan, but after impressing Frank Lampard on the Uefa Pro Licence course, he became first-team coach at Chelsea in the summer of 2020.. When Lampard was sacked in January 2021, Tuchel replaced him, retained Barry, and within months had won the Champions League.. During that time Barry had also spread his wings into international football – working as an assistant coach of the Republic of Ireland before taking the same role under Roberto Martinez – first with Belgium, then Portugal.. That has allowed him to coach at a World Cup and European Championship, while also working with global greats including Cristiano Ronaldo and Kevin de Bruyne.. Barry was reunited with Tuchel when the latter took him to Bayern Munich in 2023.. “It’s a relationship that has grown along the way,” said Barry. “In a working capacity – and then in a social way – we became closer and closer.. “We spend a lot of time together speaking, working, fighting, building teams – but he’s a person and a character I admire and I’m in awe of.”. Barry is the only English coach in Tuchel’s core support staff. He, along with Henrique Hilario, Nico Mayer and James Melbourne, has joined Tuchel in signing a new contract until 2028.. Known as an innovative and enthusiastic coach, Barry also specialises in set-pieces. A former midfielder, he wrote a dissertation as part of his Pro Licence for which he analysed 17,000 throw-ins.. But he does not buy into the narrative that set-pieces will be more important than ever at a World Cup that will feature drinks breaks – effectively splitting the game into quarters.. “I’m not sure it will have a bigger part to play,” he said. “I think set-pieces have always been huge.. “I just think, right now, it’s really a trend – it’s really spoken about in social media. It’s almost become football plus set-pieces, but that’s not how Thomas and I see it.. “I think all of the great teams have always been good as se
