During this two-week international break interim manager Carsley gave two confusing news conferences, on Thursday, 10 October and again on Sunday, 13 October.
Both were after England games in front of the media. Both times he seemed to tie himself in knots over whether he was in the running for the full-time England job and whether he even wanted it.
BBC Sport was told by a senior FA figure 10 days ago – before the damaging Greece defeat – that the recruitment process was going “very well”.
Perhaps that was a reference to the secret talks with Tuchel.
Maybe they had been stung by reports of inertia, or the risk of Tuchel being a target for Manchester United, who spoke to the German coach in the summer.
Could the fact United stuck with Erik ten Hag – despite their poor start to the season – have pushed Tuchel towards England?
There was a convenient theory that with Carsley’s candidacy effectively over after the defeat by Greece last week, the FA’s hand was forced.
But we now know Tuchel signed his contract with the governing body two days before that match.
Astonishingly, in the era of 24-7 media coverage and the interest in the England role as one of the biggest jobs in world football, Tuchel’s appointment did not leak.
There were a handful of reports of ‘talks’ in German media, which were played down at the time by Tuchel’s representatives when BBC Sport approached them for comment.
BBC Sport was told Bullingham led a call to the FA board late afternoon on Tuesday, 8 October, which lasted around half an hour.
The board was told the contract was ready to be signed, and that the FA’s remuneration committee had been through all the terms and conditions with Tuchel.
Board members were not asked for their views, but nor did anyone speak out against the appointment. The board members were told that a number of candidates had been interviewed but they were not told who they were, sources told BBC Sport.
