Chelsea won't stand in the way of assistant coach's England ambitions

According to Simon Johnson of the London Evening Standard, Chelsea won't prevent assistant first-team coach Steve Holland from joining the English national team in a full-time capacity if he’s offered the job. Holland is already an assistant to England's caretaker manager Gareth Southgate, and the latter is expected to be confirmed as the team's official boss before the end of November.

This is apparently something of a thorny issue, as “several Premier League clubs” have objected over Holland’s dual role for club and country, claiming that he’s gaining some sort of competitive advantage for Chelsea. The Times’s report claims Chelsea are “adamant” that Holland could perform both jobs — it’s not like coaching a national team is a 24/7 gig — and want the long-time assistant to stay at the club. The report also points out that Holland would hardly be the first coach to perform a dual role, with Norwich City and then later Southampton goalkeeping coach Dave Watson recently doing so under Roy Hodgson.

Southgate and Holland have been working together quite successfully since 2013, when the former was appointed manager of England U21 and the latter joined his staff. After the Sam Allardyce incident, which lead to Big Sam’s dismissal, Southgate took over the first-team in late September, with Holland once again at his side as assistant. Under Southgate's stewardship, England earned wins over Malta and Scotland, and draws against Slovenia and Spain.

Holland has been at Chelsea since 2009, arriving at the club as the team's reserve manager and moving to the position of assistant manager in 2011 after the sacking of Carlo Ancelotti. He’s worked since alongside André Villas-Boas, Roberto Di Matteo, Rafael Benítez, José Mourinho, Guus Hiddink and Antonio Conte. He and Eddie Newton also served as co-caretaker managers last December for the game against Sunderland, after the sacking of Mourinho and before the appointment of Hiddink.

Given his extensive experience, the 46-year-old Holland would certainly be an asset at both Chelsea and England. Hopefully he’ll be allowed to keep both jobs, if he so chooses.