Lee Carsley has said he will not sing England’s national anthem when he takes charge of his first match as interim head coach against the Republic of Ireland on Saturday.
Carsley, who was born in Birmingham but won 40 Ireland caps having qualified through a grandmother, is set to return to Dublin after succeeding Gareth Southgate for at least the start of the Nations League campaign.
The 50-year-old led England Under-21s to European success last year and has been part of the Football Association’s coaching staff since 2015. However, Carsley said that he would not change his pre-match routine by singing God Save the King because he wants to “focus on the football”.
“This is something that I always struggled with when I was playing for Ireland,” said Carsley, who revealed last week at his unveiling that he held “informal conversations” about becoming Ireland’s manager this year.
“The gap between your warm-up, your coming on to the pitch and the delay with the anthems. So it’s something that I have never done. I was always really focused on the game and my first actions of the game. I really found that in that period I was wary about my mind wandering off.
“I was really focused on the football and I have taken that into coaching. We had the national anthem with the under-21s also and I am in a zone at that point. I am thinking about how the opposition are going to set up and our first actions within the game. I fully respect both anthems and understand how much they mean to both countries. It’s something I am really respectful of.”
The England captain, Harry Kane, who also has Irish heritage, recognised that Declan Rice and Jack Grealish could receive a “hostile” reception from the crowd if selected. They switched allegiances to England despite representing Ireland with age-group teams and also, in Rice’s case, at senior level.
“Everyone has their path to their career and theirs was a small part with Ireland and the rest of it with England so they are mature enough to deal with that,” said Kane. “It’s going to be a tough game – the atmosphere will be tough. We are going into a place where we expect it to be a little bit hostile but that is no different to a lot of away games we face. My grandparents are Irish but the way my career went with the England youth teams and the 21s and the first team, Ireland wasn’t something that was really given much thought or even came across the desk.”
Kane is in line to win his 99th cap and should have an opportunity to reach a century against Finland on Tuesday. The Bayern Munich striker struggled to produce his best form at Euro 2024 despite extending his goalscoring record by three to a total of 66 for his country. Kane was substituted in the semi-final against the Netherlands and after 61 minutes of the final against Spain. He admitted his performances fell below his usual standards but he believes that he can thrive under Carsley.
“There was a lot of talk during the Euros about me and my condition but I felt in good shape,” Kane said. “Did the games go as well as I wanted them to? No, not really, but I think there were a lot of us who fell below par in terms of individual performances.
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“We did extremely well to get to where we got to. I think that was mainly down to our team spirit and cohesion we had developed over the years, but sometimes when it doesn’t go the way you want it to go there is always something to look for and blame. But from my point of view I have come back in a good place, I have started the season well.”
England do not have another No 9 in their squad after Ollie Watkins withdrew and Carsley left out Ivan Toney, who has since completed a move to Al-Ahli. The Netherlands coach, Ronald Koeman, said this week the door was closed on Steven Bergwijn’s international career after the forward’s move to the Saudi Pro League but Carsley said he would like to watch Toney in action before deciding whether to call him up.
“As an interim head coach I don’t think I can rule anyone in or out,” he said. “It would be really interesting to go out and see Ivan play and see the level and see the tempo and see the standard. We’ve got access to the games so I’ll definitely be following his progression out there.
“It would be good to go and see an actual live game to get a feel of the atmosphere and the pace of the game because sometimes you don’t quite get that on a video. But yes, he’s definitely not ruled out. We have to be mindful. I’ve got a perception of the football out there but I’ve not been out there and seen it. So I think it would be reckless to rule somebody in or out.”
