Lee Carsley has never pretended otherwise. When England first came calling, he was torn. It was September 2015, he had a coaching role at Brentford and the England Under-19 manager, Aidy Boothroyd, wanted him as his assistant. “When I was asked to do it, the first thing I thought was: ‘Well, I’m Irish … how does that look?’” Carsley told Shane Keegan’s excellent How To Win At Dominoes podcast in June 2020.
It is impossible to prescribe how the individual with dual nationality ought to feel with regard to their heritage. Each case is nuanced, deeply personal. Carsley was born and raised in Birmingham and so England is a significant part of him. As is Ireland, where his maternal grandmother is from (specifically, Dunmanway in County Cork).
Carsley can talk of his formative days at the Catholic Community Centre in Chelmsley Wood, playing for a team that wore Celtic colours, singing the Celtic songs in the clubhouse. The coach, John Walsh, a huge influence on him, would tell the boys they could be anything they wanted to be; how, as Carsley put it to Keegan on the podcast, they were “going to inspire a nation to play for Ireland”. Carsley would win 40 caps for them.
Carsley’s worries about the optics of accepting the England Under-19 job soon faded, partly because of a previous snub he had felt from the Football Association of Ireland. At about the time that he hung up his boots in 2011, he and his former Ireland teammate Kevin Kilbane had offered their coaching services to the FAI and let us just say that nothing came of it.
So began Carsley’s coaching journey with England, which has taken him via a successful stint at under-21 level to the main job with the seniors, albeit on an interim basis until the end of November. And his first game on Saturday just had to be against Ireland in Dublin.
You do not have to be in the city for long to realise the England midfielder Declan Rice is in for a rough ride; the way they tell it here is that he betrayed Ireland, making three senior appearances for them, declaring his love and then switching allegiance. Jack Grealish, who won youth-level caps for Ireland before defecting, will not be spared, either.
It is less clear what kind of reception Carsley will get. He was sounded out by the FAI as a possible successor to Stephen Kenny, who departed last November, but nobody really believes he snubbed them. Why would he leave what he had with England? As an aside, the money was never going to be competitive. Ireland have turned to the Icelander Heimir Hallgrímsson, slayer of England at Euro 2016; his Ireland debut is another subplot.
The question for Carsley was whether he would sing God Save the King before kick-off, which he danced around by saying he had never been an anthem singer, beginning with when he played for Ireland. He said his focus was always on the start of the game in the moments before it; he does not want his mind to wander.
Back we go to optics because there will be some who find it unpalatable that the England manager does not sing the anthem. It would be unwise to ignore the context. Or, plainly, to wonder about Carsley’s commitment.
There is a more pressing identity issue at hand. When a manager comes in, their first job is often to ensure they are not like the previous incumbent; they are fresh and different. In Carsley’s case, that talks to Gareth Southgate’s stylistic struggles at Euro 2024, the seemingly never-ending performance-versus-result debate.
It is naive on one level and yet it is possible to feel that Carsley needs a cohesive, front-foot, exciting display more than he needs victory against Ireland. He has already put his stamp on the squad, omitting seven of the players Southgate took to the Euros (two others missed out through injury; Luke Shaw and Jude Bellingham). Carsley is not someone to manage as he played; he wants to make the game rather than destroy it. At the very least, he has to show a positive direction of travel.
“We’ve done three training sessions … probably two and a half, three hours in total of what’s expected, along with four or five meetings,” Carsley said. “We’re looking at different ways of playing through, getting beyond. I expect it to be a little bit scrappy and scruffy at times. But I’ve got total belief in the way that I think we can play.
“We spoke a lot about control, which is going to be a big thing for this group. I’m aware that I’m going to be here for the three camps [in the autumn] and we’ve got to keep building in every one. But I expect them to perform well.”
After eight years and 102 matches under Southgate, it is strange to see a new man at the helm. The captain, Harry Kane, admitted as much. Carsley simply wants to look forward.
“There won’t just be one thing that I most want to see,” he said. “We spoke a lot about being excited, playing with energy, control. I have seen a lot of really good defending this week in terms of shots that have been blocked in games at the end of sessions. As exciting as you want to be at one end, ultimately to win the game, you have got to keep it out of your goal.
“But this week has really hit home to me the level of players that we’ve got. If we can perform at the right time as a whole group, there is no reason why they can’t create a legacy for themselves.”