On a few occasions, mainly when Lee Carsley has been behind the wheel of his car, the radio has been on and England have been the subject under discussion, he admits that his mind has “wandered off”. Essentially to the size of the challenge that now confronts him.
Carsley may only be the Football Association’s interim replacement for Gareth Southgate, slated to take charge of the upcoming Nations League ties against Republic of Ireland and Finland, and probably the sets of fixtures in October and November, too.
Yet he is still about to become only the 20th person to lead the team, following in the footsteps of giants, part of an elite group that began with Walter Winterbottom and Sir Alf Ramsey and has taken in, among others, Sir Bobby Robson and Terry Venables. Given Carsley’s club-level experience of being a No 1 extends no further than caretaker spells with Coventry and Birmingham, plus a brief period in charge of Brentford, yes, you had better believe there have been pinch-me moments.
“It’s almost like it sort of hits you … the responsibility,” Carsley said. “You’re maybe listening to the radio and they’re talking about England and you’re thinking … that’s interesting! I might need to listen to a bit more of that! But no, the responsibility is a big thing.”
More broadly, Carsley maintained that his life had not altered “one bit” since his promotion from his job with the England Under-21s, which raised a few eyebrows as he announced his first squad at St George’s Park.
Carsley got a similar reaction with another of his key messages: that he had absolutely not thought about landing the job on a full-time basis, which, make no mistake, he would be in the frame for if he did well against Ireland, Finland and a little beyond.
The 50-year-old said he had learned from previous experiences as a caretaker when he spent too much energy thinking about what might lie ahead that he almost overlooked the job in front of him. He said he would be perfectly happy to return to his role with the under-21s. Had he been asked by the FA whether he wanted to step up from interim to the full-time post, as Southgate did? “No,” he replied. Why not say that he wanted it? Where was the harm?
And yet the more that Carsley spoke, the more he advertised his credentials, albeit in a disarmingly unassuming way. He described himself as a “safe pair of hands” and by that he meant someone who perfectly understood the rhythms of an international window; the kind of sessions that the players needed given the quick turnaround of games and the physical restrictions that some would be under.
Carsley knows many of them from under-21 level; he was always going to call up a clutch of his European Championship-winning team from the summer of 2023 – the most eye-catching example of his faith being the selection of the Lille central midfielder Angel Gomes.
Furthermore, Carsley is familiar with the workings of the FA – he has long been embedded in the system – and other nations have shown how an internal promotion can lead to stunning success. Think of Argentina with Lionel Scaloni or Spain with Luis de la Fuente. It also has to be a factor that Carsley would be significantly cheaper than, say, a manager at a Premier League club.
It was put to Carsley that in every carefully curated coaching career, there had to be a moment when you simply had to go for it. “What, you have to jump in? Yeah, I suppose there is,” he replied.
“I’m not sat here, having managed one season in the Premier League, one season in the Championship … been on Sky and done a bit of punditry. I’ve built really strong foundations from driving the minibus at Coventry for the under-18s to doing the under-15s on a Wednesday night to coaching the college team at Solihull on a Wednesday afternoon to where I am today.
“That’s why I don’t feel overawed by this situation, in terms of the expectancy. Every time we’d pick an under-21s team, we expect to win, we expect to play in a certain way. I can’t see that being any different with the senior team. If they come in and they feel that and believe that I think we can have a really good three months.”
Carsley has never faced a grilling on this scale, all of the pressure points of his selection being pressed hard. If it was a tough phone call to Kieran Trippier, the suspicion being that it led the Newcastle full-back into announcing his international retirement, then it cannot have been an easy one with Kyle Walker, either, telling him that he was not in. Ditto those to Aaron Ramsdale, Lewis Dunk, Joe Gomez, Adam Wharton and Ivan Toney.
‘It was important we put our own mark on the squad,” Carsley started off when asked about Walker. He would clarify that Walker, who has not kicked a ball for Manchester City this season, remained a part of his plans.
There was the standard Trent Alexander-Arnold inquiry; Carsley sees him as a right-back. And the inevitable questions about how England managers tended to be treated, focusing on Southgate at Euro 2024. Had that put Carsley off? “No, not really.”
It was a polished performance from Carsley; he scored points in particular when he talked about his desire for consistent control of the ball, for attacking intent. As an aside, this could be where Gomes comes in.
“Angel is very technical, he controls the game with his skill and technique,” Carsley said. “Our eye is not used to seeing that kind of player but when we watch a Portugal or Spain team, we think: ‘Ah, I really like that No 10.’ We will be quite flexible, I won’t always just play two holding midfielders. You might see some attacking players play a little deeper.”
For Carsley, the adventure is afoot, the opportunity there to be seized. He might protest but everything has changed.
