The winds of change are sweeping through St. George’s Park following the resignation of Gareth Southgate, and if you listen closely enough, you can hear the whisper of Irish fiddles on the breeze.
England plan to name a new head coach for the first time since 2016 before the autumn, so follow the football fixtures on Tonybet so you don’t miss an update. At present, former Republic of Ireland international Lee Carsley is almost certainly set to become England’s interim manager, a poisoned chalice filled to the brim with unrealistic expectations.
If that comes across as a little salty, it’s because Carsley securing the Three Lions managerial job leaves an unpleasant taste in Irish mouths.
Carsley had been earmarked as a possible candidate for Republic of Ireland manager and was even considered a shoe-in for the role by some, before ruling himself out of the running in March.
Back then, Carsley distanced himself from the Irish links.
I see myself as a development coach. I’ve not put myself out there, applying for jobs or anything.
However, he seems to be singing a different tune five months later, with England’s pull proving more powerful for him than the tug of the country he represented 40 times as a player.
Still, with common sense applied and bias stripped back, it’s easy to see why Carsley would view the England role as the more exciting prospect.
Lee Carsley – the Irish player cinching the interim English manager job
First, it’s probably best to weigh up Carsley’s ‘Irishness’ before any feelings of betrayal can be in any way applied or vindicated.
The Birmingham-born coach is Irish in the same way that US President Joe Biden is Irish. While 10 of Biden’s 16 great-great-grandparents came from the Emerald Isle, Carsley’s connections are formed through his grandmother, who hails from Dunmanway in West Cork.
Like many current and former internationals, Carsley qualified to play for the Republic of Ireland through our nation’s prolific use of the ‘Granny Rule’ – the same piece of citizenship chicanery that allowed English natives and Irish legends John Aldridge, Ray Houghton, Tony Cascarino, Chris Hughton, Jason McAteer and Andy Townsend, among others, to play for the Boys in Green.
Even former player and manager Mick McCarthy, equipped with his thick Yorkshire accent, qualified to represent Ireland through his Irish-born father, Charlie. We’ve always been creative in our methods of recruitment and Carsley was another capture in that category.
Ireland’s FAI gave Carsley the opportunity to play international football when the English pathway was too clogged and competitive, and like his predecessors, the midfielder made full use of his Irish roots to play.
Current Three Lions regulars Declan Rice and Jack Grealish had chosen a similar avenue before their stock rose enough to register on English radars, and despite being born and raised in London and Birmingham respectively, their names will always draw sneers from Irish supporters after the pair’s about-turns.
Carsley’s Irish involvement was considerably lengthier, however. The tough tackler was first drafted into the setup in 1996 and played once for Ireland’s U21. He graduated to the senior side in 1997, and won his first cap against Romania in a World Cup qualifier.
Carsley went to the World Cup with Mick McCarthy’s squad in 2002 but saw limited action in South Korea/Japan, appearing just once as a substitute in Ireland’s group stage win against Saudi Arabia.
Choosing to put all of his focus into performing for Everton, Carsley left the international scene as a bit-part player in 2004 before returning as a first-team staple for Steve Staunton in 2006.
Carsley hung up his international boots for good in 2008 after amassing 40 caps over a lengthy 11-year career with Ireland. However, he is never named among the great pantheon of Irish midfielders or even as a cult hero. The shaven-headed destroyer was always more of a ‘Steady Eddie’ at best.
His journey at club level was similar in essence, with his six-year spell with Everton the highlight of a middling career that featured stints at Derby, Coventry, Blackburn and Birmingham. Indeed, Carsley’s trajectory as a coach already looks like it will eclipse anything that he achieved during his playing days.
Carsley’s coaching career
Carsley had always planned for a future in coaching and he did his badges in tandem with his playing responsibilities at Everton. Right from the off, he excelled in his work with younger players, and after his retirement in 2011, Carsley took up a position as coach of Coventry City’s U18 side where he cut his teeth and led the team to the runners-up spot in the Premier League Academy League.
A couple of caretaker stints with the Sky Blues between 2012 and 2013 also gave Carsley his first taste of first-team management, and seeking out greater responsibility, he joined Sheffield United as the Blades’ ‘Assistant Manager-Technical’ to work under former Toffees teammate David Weir.
The duo were sacked after just three months of the 2013/14 League One campaign, however, following a dismal 12-match winless streak. It’s unclear whether it was his reputation or his confidence that took a wallop after that ill-fated spell at Bramall Lane, but Carsley was out of work until Brentford came calling to offer him the Development Squad manager job in October 2014.
Although he had a remit to work with the Bees’ emerging stars, Carsley was again asked to fill in as senior boss in September 2015 when replacing the ousted Marinus Dijkhuizen. Indeed, that was an eventful month for Carsley, who also picked up work as a coach for England’s U19 on the side as part of Aidy Boothroyd’s staff.
Carsley stayed involved in the first-team picture at Brentford before handing the reins over to the incoming Dean Smith later that year, though he eventually left the club completely just before Christmas.
The new year in 2016 brought fresh opportunities, and having impressed the decision makers at St. George’s Park, Carsley took up a role as the full-time ‘out of possession’ coach for all English teams between U15 and U21 level – a position that again highlighted his nous for developing young players.
Carsley’s skills were acquired by an ambitious Manchester City in August 2016, who named him as the club’s U18 manager. He landed silverware in the north west in the form of the North Division of the Professional U18 Development League 1 title, and guided City to the 2017 FA Youth Cup final before exiting.
In the summer of 2017, Carsley accepted an offer to become Birmingham City’s Head Professional Development Coach and shared duties between the Blues and a new part-time role as a specialist national coach with England U21.
However, shortly after returning to Birmingham, it was another case of fate repeated when Carsley was asked to take on senior caretaker duties following the early-season sacking of Harry Redknapp.
Carsley retained a role with the Blues as an assistant coach under Redknapp’s replacement Steve Cotterill. However, he followed his superior out the door at St. Andrew’s when Cotterill was sacked in March 2018.
That episode seemed to sour Carsley’s opinion of working in a senior capacity, and putting his complete energy into his duties with England’s rising stars, he was eventually announced as the head coach of England U20 in September 2020, before moving up a grade eight months later with the U21 side.
The England U21 head coach position was the making of Carsley and allowed him to establish a rock-solid reputation in a public-facing post.
Holding a hugely impressive 79.31% win rate since his appointment three years ago, Carsley masterminded England’s run to silverware in the European Under-21 Championship last summer, earning the Young Lions their first success in the competition since 1984.
Among Carsley’s title-winning squad last year were current England senior caps Anthony Gordon, Jarrad Branthwaite and Cole Palmer, and the coach’s strong relationship with the country’s next batch of superstars is likely to have been written in bold in the pros column by bigwigs during discussions about England’s next senior head honcho.
Indeed, if the decision makers at St. George’s Park need reminding of the benefits of promoting from within, then they don’t have to look very far. Gareth Southgate was England’s U21 manager between 2013 and 2016 before he was given the country’s top job.
For all his detractors, Southgate was the most successful England manager since World Cup-winning hero Sir Alf Ramsey and the only Three Lions boss ever to lead the country to two major finals during his tenure.
If England do have an overarching grand plan, then the appointment of Carsley would certainly tick all the boxes in terms of continuity, at least for the short-term foreseeable. Although, he will need to see off competition from compatriots Eddie Howe and Graham Potter to assume control in the long-term.
The one burning question that remains unanswered, however, is just how badly singed Carsley was from the negativity he experienced in the senior coaching realm at Coventry, Brentford and Birmingham, as brief as they were.
Carsley has done his best work polishing raw diamonds away from the glare and pressures of the senior game. Would the almost unparalleled demands of managing England be too much of a burden to bear?
His first game may be a good one!
While the timeline for England’s newest appointment hasn’t been set in stone, it’s highly likely that Carsley will be the Three Lions’ front man before facing the Republic of Ireland on 7th September.
If Carsley manages to see off Messrs Potter, Howe, et al. to land the long-term gig, then his first fixture could take him back to the land of his forbearers for England’s Nations League clash with the Boys in Green at the Aviva Stadium.
Carsley’s appearance on the sideline will make for a frosty atmosphere in Dublin, and capturing his reaction and facial expression during a rendition of ‘God Save the King’ in the Irish capital would likely be mission number one for TV cameras.
Of course, Declan ‘the original turncoat’ Rice would almost certainly be a bigger lightning rod for jeers, with the Arsenal man’s every touch likely to draw boos from the stands. However, Carsley could come in for similar treatment.
An England team led into battle by former Ireland international Carsley would undoubtedly add an extra edge to proceedings, not that any additional sharpness will be needed when Ireland host their traditional adversaries.
The English were relegated and paired with Ireland in Nations League B Group 2 after their previous campaign, and a motivated Irish outfit – led by a new manager of their own in Heimir Hallgrímsson – would love to stick the boot in on the beaten Euro 2024 finalists in Dublin.
As always, Tonybet will have extensive markets for September’s skirmish between Ireland and England in the Nations League, complete with some of the keenest prices and odds available.
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