Lee Carsley knows Lansdowne Road well. It was at the old stadium that he began his senior international playing career, in a 1998 World Cup qualifying draw against Romania, and on Saturday he will commence his senior international managerial career at the rebuilt Aviva Stadium.
It is a quirk of fate that England’s interim head coach will take charge of his first match in Dublin and against the nation that he represented on 40 occasions during his time as a midfielder.
Carsley may have been born in Birmingham, developed through the Derby County youth system and spent his entire playing career in England, but he was a mainstay in the Republic of Ireland squad either side of the millennium.
Carsley qualified for Ireland through his grandmother, who was from Dunmanway, County Cork, and featured at under-21 level before progressing into the senior team, where he made just one major tournament appearance, as a late substitute in a group game at the 2002 World Cup.
Therefore it will be quite a moment as he stands on the touchline for England’s Uefa Nations League match against Ireland this weekend. Despite his mingled loyalties, Carsley will be keen to press on with the job at hand.
Chance is there for interim coach
There were a few raised eyebrows when the Football Association placed Carsley in interim charge of England following Gareth Southgate’s departure this summer after he took the nation to a second final, at Euro 2024, before again falling short at the last hurdle.
Carsley will be in situ for this international break, which also includes a fixture against Finland at Wembley on Tuesday, and most likely those in October and November, too.
It is fair to say that this run of games represents the biggest in Carsley’s coaching career to date. He will become only the 20th person to lead the national team and the opportunity is there for him to stake his claim to be placed permanently in charge.
The 50-year-old has limited club-level experience of being a No 1. Caretaker roles with Coventry City (twice) and Birmingham City sandwiched a two-month spell at the helm at Brentford. All of these were over seven years ago.
Rather, it’s Carsley’s work in the under-age groups that has brought him to this point. His time with Manchester City and the under-18s there was when the former Everton and Birmingham midfielder first showed his adeptness at developing young players.
After a short spell with Birmingham under-23s, an opportunity emerged to take over the England under-20s side in 2020. That was Carsley’s first full-time role at St George’s Park.
It was when he became head coach of the under-21s a year later that his stock rose further. By managing the supply chain up to the senior team, he developed a good relationship with Southgate and his assistant, Steve Holland.
Winning the Uefa European Under-21 Championship in 2023 is the standout moment of Carsley’s coaching career to date. Beating Spain in the final in Batumi, Georgia capped an impressive tournament that saw England win all seven of their games, scoring 11 goals (by eight different players) and not conceding once. It was an eye-catching triumph.
So, in many ways, placing Carsley in temporary charge seems sensible. Similar to when Southgate first got his go at the senior team on an interim basis in 2016, Carsley is familiar with the workings of the FA after years being embedded into the system.
Internal promotion worked for England last time — both Spain and Argentina have done similar with Luis de la Fuente and Lionel Scaloni respectively — and there is a general consensus within the FA that the overarching plan does not need ripping up.
Not only will Carsley understand the rhythms of an international window — the kind of quick sessions that players need given the short turnaround of games and physical restrictions some of them are under — but is also fully cognisant of the talent coming through the ranks.
In calling up a clutch of his favourite under-21 players — Lille central midfielder Angel Gomez along with Chelsea’s Noni Madueke and Morgan Gibbs-Whiteof Nottingham Forest — Carsley has put his own stamp on his first England senior squad. He was always going to.
Carsley is a front-footed coach
Most intriguingly will be what happens on the pitch. Despite reaching the Euro 2024 final, England’s style of play was used as a stick with which to beat Southgate. It is clear that a more adventurous approach is now wanted to harness the talents of this generation.
Carsley’s under-21s side were notable for being rather supple in their system — 4-4-2, 4-2-2, 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 all being used at different occasions — and the attacking players were encouraged to play with impetus. Carsley’s teams have been easy on the eye and brave on the ball. Control of the ball is what he seeks.
Over the next couple of games, when promotion out of Nations League B should be straightforward enough, Carsley will not be averse to making decisions. He has already said Trent Alexander-Arnold will play at right back instead of Kyle Walker. While a lot of focus will be placed on how he balances midfield and attack (Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden are both absent from this camp).
If things go well, then it only strengthens Carsley’s hand in landing the full-time job as the FA ponder their next move.
However, during his squad reveal last week, he made it clear that he will simply focus on the task in front of him and not spend too much energy thinking about what might lie ahead — something he learnt from previous experiences as a caretaker, he said. His life has not altered “one bit” since his promotion, but it soon good.
Nevertheless, he will go through the full range of emotions when he returns to Dublin and the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening. It will be the first time England and Ireland have faced off since November 2020 and competitively in over 33 years — the 1995 encounter between them infamously being abandoned.
Carsley has made it clear he is “proud of his heritage” and was at a family reunion in Cork only this summer. He might even have been in the opposite dugout had he accepted an offer from the Irish Football Association to replace Stephen Kenny last year, instead that vacancy was filled by Heimir Hallgrímsson, the former Iceland head coach.
“It will be a special occasion,” Carsley said. Get it right and there could be many more to come, too.
