Lee Carsley insists he is “up for” the England manager’s position and says as far as he’s concerned, the role is no longer the “impossible job”.
In the wake of Gareth Southgate’s resignation, Carsley has been put in interim charge for the three rounds of autumn international matches, but he has never admitted publicly that he wants the role long-term.
He had a baptism of fire ahead of his first game in Dublin, with some newspapers calling for him to be sacked for refusing to sing the British national anthem. Carsley pointed out that he played 40 times for Republic of Ireland and never sang that anthem either.
The media-created storm didn’t phase him, and he says he has grown in confidence in front of the press as the international break progressed. Initially, he called himself “a safe pair of hands” but now Carsley sounds more bullish about the job.
“I am up for it. I think I am up for it,” he said. “I think I’m very grounded. The most important thing about this job is the football for me, making sure we create a good environment for the players to perform in.
“It’s been a good week. I think like all these things, when you have such a build-up to it, you play it out in your mind on how it’s going to go.
“It definitely couldn’t have gone any better in terms of the way the players responded to some of the concepts that we tried to put in place, the way that the new players have gelled with the older ones. It’s been an all-round positive camp.”
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Asked whether the experience had been an eye-opener, he replied: “No, not really. I think I’ve been lucky enough to see the job quite up close, over the last couple of years with me doing the U21s. I’ve seen some of the challenges that go with it. I think from a [news] conference point of view, it’s shown that I can do it, or we can do it as a staff.”
Two 2-0 victories were a solid start in terms of results, but what was most startling was the change in style that Carsley and his staff have brought to the men’s senior team.
His will be a more attacking philosophy than Southgate’s, with players encouraged to take risks with the ball. And while that may mean Carsley’s England concede more chances and more goals than his predecessor, he expects his team to create and score more of their own.
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“I think that’s just the way I try and have the teams play. We’re really lucky with the players that we’ve got in the pathway. We’ve got some really exciting players, and I think it’s important that we give them the stage to do what they’re good at.”
The term “the impossible job” was coined in the 1980s and ’90s, when the tabloid press hounded the likes of Terry Venables, Graham Taylor and Bobby Robson in the role of England manager.
“I’ve not heard that one,” said Carsley. “I think it’s a really good job. It’s a job where you look at different opportunities and ask, ‘can you be in a position to win?’ This job definitely ticks that box. We’ve got the players to be not only competitive but win a major trophy.”