No one has ever suggested that Thomas Tuchel missed his true calling as a diplomat. According to one early associate, the future England boss repeatedly clashed with his teenage football teammates ‘because he was assertive and demanding, which didn’t always go over well’.Four decades on and German-born Tuchel still seems unconcerned about putting noses out of joint. Even by the standards of a typical football manager, he looks particularly animated as he shouts instructions to his players – repeatedly jabbing an index finger as he does so – from the touchline.There was certainly no sign of him holding back during Saturday’s quarter-final against Norway. At one point during a water break, he appeared to be tapping his finger on a player’s chest.And according to a lip-reading expert, one explosive rant to the team included the blunt order: ‘Work harder.Go faster. You’re so static. You’re just standing.’And, of course, Tuchel’s remarks about a ‘sloppy’ England being ‘lucky’ against Norway raised hackles among the squad. Clearly angered, star player Jude Bellingham initially dismissed the criticism by saying, ‘Yeah, well, whatever’, before suggesting that the manager perhaps ‘doesn’t know what it’s like’ to play in such a high-stakes game.Despite the passionate reaction to his team’s efforts, many fans are welcoming a manager who is so visibly determined to drive his players to improve. Thomas Tuchel urges on England defender Djed Spence against Congo DR Tuchel is pictured with his ex-wife Sissi. They have two daughters, Emma and Kim. The marriage formally came to an end in 2022 on the grounds of irreconcilable differencesYet if Tuchel’s charms may occasionally be lost on the England stars, especially those used to the more easy-going regime under Gareth Southgate, his appeal has not gone unnoticed elsewhere.Indeed, the towering Tuchel – who stands at an imposing 6ft 4in – appears to have no shortage of female admirers. His post-match interviews have been the source of much comment by regulars on Mumsnet, with one user observing: ‘He has a lovely smile.’ Another responded: ‘Step away, my friend. I’m ahead of you. He is a delight to watch, isn’t he?’Now divorced, Tuchel – who turns 53 next month – married journalist Sissi in 2009 and they have two daughters, Emma and Kim. The couple’s marriage formally came to an end in 2022 on the grounds of irreconcilable differences.Back then, there were unsubstantiated rumours about his private life. While court papers noted Sissi could not be expected to stay in the relationship, no details of infidelity emerged.Tuchel’s current partner is mother-of-two Natalie Max, a Brazilian business consultant 13 years his junior. They were spotted on a romantic boat trip in Sardinia in July 2022 – just days after his divorce was finalised – and live in Paddington, London.Evidence suggests he has settled easily into London life. His haunts include the West End gastropub The Devonshire, where he has the occasional pint of Guinness, and various record shops in Soho. At various times, he has been spotted at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington and browsing in a Marylebone shop that specialises in vintage film posters.According to reports, Tuchel – who describes himself as ‘an imperfect vegetarian’ – is something of a culture vulture. He is an avid reader of books about architecture and design, although his favourite title is said to be The Inner Game Of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey – which first appeared in 1974 and is described on one publishing website as a ‘timeless guide to achieving the state of ‘relaxed concentration’ that’s not only the key to peak performance in tennis but the secret to success in life itself’. Tuchel shouts across to his players during England’s winning match against Norway in Miami on Saturday night After being intrigued by conversations with an 80-year-old art enthusiast at his local swimming pool in Germany, Tuchel travelled to Vienna in the mid-2010s to see a collection of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s paintings.It is also known that Tuchel has a generous streak. During a spell living in Paris, he reportedly paid for his housekeeper’s son to have heart surgery – and later bought her a villa in the Philippines so she could return home to her family.Born in Krumbach, a sleepy town around 75 miles from Munich, Tuchel grew up in a middle-class household with his father Rudolf – a local football coach – working as a water maintenance engineer and his mother Gabriele as a special needs teacher.He was educated at the town’s grammar school, where he led the under-14 football team to a national title, and his ‘playful arrogance’ was noted by fellow pupils in a graduation yearbook. Although he became a professional footballer, his playing career came to an end at the age of 25 due to a catastrophic knee injury.By then, he had already embarked on a degree in business administration in Stuttgart. To help fund his studies, Tuchel took a job collecting glasses at the city’s fashionable Radio Bar – which was at the centre of Germany’s emerging hip-hop scene. He was quickly elevated to serving behind the bar, although he has since joked that he ‘wouldn’t have wanted to drink the cocktails I mixed in the beginning’ and suggested that his signature concoction was ‘maybe a bad mojito’.It was while he was working at Radio Bar that Tuchel received a call from his former boss Ralf Rangnick – who has since managed Manchester United and is now in charge of the Austrian national team – offering him an internship as a youth team coach at VfB Stuttgart.So began Tuchel’s roller-coaster managerial trajectory. Yet his uncompromising, outspoken and often adversarial nature have seen him involved in countless high-profile confrontations.When he was the boss at Germany’s Borussia Dortmund, he publicly criticised chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke for agreeing to proceed with a Champions League match less than 24 hours after a bomb attack on the team’s bus in April 2017. Despite bringing home the club’s first trophy in five years, Tuchel – described as a ‘difficult person’ by Watzke – was dismissed the following month.He was subsequently sacked by Paris Saint-Germain, where he had a stellar run of results, after repeatedly clashing with the club hierarchy. Meanwhile, reports of friction with players at his various clubs are two a penny.It was January 2021 when Tuchel moved to Chelsea (another appointment that ended in tears) and, following a stint at Bayern Munich (which also involved a not entirely amicable parting of company), he took up the £5.9million-per-annum England job last year.Yet while there might be a question mark over Tuchel’s interpersonal skills and blunt manner, few doubt his ability as a tactician.Sixty years after England’s famous victory over West Germany (and 81 years since the end of the Second World War), he might yet be the man to bring football’s greatest honour back to these shores for only the second time in history.