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Former England cricketer Andrew Flintoff has been praised for 'making people feel like they can conquer the world' by the team's current managing director Rob Key.
Flintoff, 47, returned to the national side's setup in 2023, initially on a consultancy basis, before being handed the England Lions job in September last year.
It marked a remarkable return to the sport for a man who suffered serious injuries in a car crash that occurred while he was filming Top Gear for BBC in December 2022.
The incident saw the 2005 Ashes hero having to be airlifted to hospital after he sustained sever facial injuries.
As well as being England team-mates during their respective playing careers, Flintoff and Key formed a strong friendship off the field.
They have since reunited in managerial and coaching roles for England, with Key now having spoken glowingly of the man who became affectionately known as 'Freddie' due to his surname's similarity with cartoon character Freddie Flintstone.
Andrew Flintoff has been praised for 'making people feel like they can conquer the world'
Flintoff, 47, returned to the sport in 2023 after suffering serious injuries while filming Top Gear
The comments were made by his former team-mate Rob Key, who is now England's Managing Director of Cricket
Speaking to The Telegraph, Key said: 'I think he'd be an excellent head coach of England, Andrew Flintoff'.
'Fred's got that real inspiration. He's been there, he's done it. He understands what he says.
'He's more like Brendon McCullum, where he understands what you're going through.
'So when you speak to Fred about players, you get a rundown really on not just them as the player, but what they're really like, what they're going through, what they think, you know, which is really important.
'He makes people feel like they can conquer the world really. And he does it in a subtle way. You can't just tell people ''you are great'''.
England have looked a reinvigorated side since McCullum became their head coach in 2022, winning 23 of 36 Test matches in that time.
But they face a decisive year as they face two of the top sides in the world over the next six months, starting with home Test series against India which begins on Friday.
They will then face arguably the biggest task in all of English cricket as they travel to Australia for an away Ashes series over the winter - having not even won a Test Down Under since their famous 3-1 series victory in 2010-11.
