Rob Key believes England would be 'stupid not to' consider Freddie Flintoff as their next head coach.
Flintoff retired from Test cricket back in 2009 after a glittering career where he established himself as one of the game's best-ever all-rounders.
He moved into television work in his post-cricket career and became a presenter on Top Gear in 2019 until his horrifying crash in December 2022.
The 46-year-old had to be airlifted to hospital at the time after suffering broken ribs and severe facial injuries.
Flintoff has been on the mend ever since and he's gradually made a return to the cricket scene and worked as a coach for England's white-ball team last summer.
Freddie Flintoff's facial injuries appear to have healed
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He will also take on the head coaching role for the men's Northern Superchargers team for The Hundred this year.
Flintoff appears to be back working again after being pictured filming the second season of his BBC show 'Freddie Flintoff's Field of Dreams'.
He posed for a photo with young cricketer Subhajit Naskar at the Cricket Association of Bengal and it appears as though his facial injuries have nearly healed.
There are now suggestions that Flintoff could be in the running to take the England head coach role with Matthew Mott coming under increased pressure.
And Key, the director of men's cricket, feels his close friends is the ideal candidate to take on the England job.
“Without question, I think he would be an excellent head coach,” Key told the Telegraph.
“Who knows where he ends up in the future.
“He will be a worthy candidate going forward. When that time comes and whoever is in this job, and it might be outside of my time, they would be stupid not to look at him.”
Key reached out to Flintoff while his former England team-mate was recovering at home last year.
The pair were close during their playing days together and Key feels Flintoff has all the right attributes to make a success of the head coach job.
Freddie Flintoff returned to cricket last year in a coaching capacity
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“He has high emotional intelligence so he understands when you need a bit of an arm around your shoulder or blunt honesty," Key added.
“Those are the skills that make a great leader. Leadership is about making the people around you feel better and he is someone who is like that. He has a lot to offer.
“Flintoff is a leader like [Ben] Stokes. He is not going to need to learn leadership qualities.
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Rob Key feels Freddie Flintoff could be the next England head coach
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“He has those in abundance which is what you need at the top level. He has that empathy that Stokes has as well as being a great player.
“He knows what it is like to nick off and to struggle. All these things as a leader, your interactions with people, mean you can impact people in a positive or negative way with everything you do.
“Fred is aware of that, and not many are aware of that, and he understands how to use that gift with people."