When England face Ireland on Saturday in their 2024/25 UEFA Nations League opener, it will be the first time since November 2016 that former manager Gareth Southgate won’t be in the dugout.
After eight years in charge, the 54-year-old stepped down from his position shortly after leading the Three Lions to the final of Euro 2024, where Spain stopped them in their tracks.
Although England fans, myself included, were grateful for the memories Southgate gave us—highlighted by two European Championship finals and a World Cup semi-final—it was the right decision to give someone else the opportunity to end the 57-year trophy drought.
Southgate should take full credit for making England fans fall back in love with the team after a miserable few years under Roy Hodgson, but several of his tactical decisions at Euro 2024 saw plenty of supporters turn on him.
While England did make the final, in truth they were lucky to not be eliminated long before that and Southgate would have had to take 100% of the blame.
But that was then, and this is now. It’s time to turn the page and Lee Carsley will be the man to write the first chapter of England post Southgate.
With the English Football Association still on the hunt for a new permanent manager, the Irishman has been promoted from the England’s Under 21 side to take interim charge for at least their fixtures against Ireland and Finland this month.
The former Everton will no doubt be interested in leading the senior team for longer than that, but what must he do to win over England fans that don’t want another yes-man promoted from within at the helm?
For starters, he must bring his own style of play to the table, rather than follow the same route as his predecessor.
Despite the wealth of attacking talent at England’s disposal, Southgate failed to get his players playing an attacking brand of football that would have arguably made them world beaters.
If Carsley is to get the fans onboard from day one, he let the likes of Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka off the leash.
The good news for us England fans? Carsley agrees.
“I want our players to be on the ball,” said the 50-year-old in a press conference last week.
“I want our team to attack. I want us to be expansive.”
Music to my ears. How refreshing is it to hear an England manager, albeit just on an interim basis for now, speak that way?
He also backed it up when managing the under 21s, playing fluid, exciting, attacking possession-based football that saw him lead the Young Lions to a first UEFA U21 European Championship since 1984.
Part of that winning side in Georgia were the likes of Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer, who both travelled to Germany in the summer with the senior squad but were starved of much-deserved minutes by Southgate.
It’s obviously very early days here seeing as Carsley’s England haven’t kicked a ball yet, but with more youngsters set to break through in the coming months, would it perhaps make sense to stick with Carsley should he impress against Finland and Ireland?
After all, those youngsters are already familiar with how the manager wants to play the game and have shown on the world stage they can put it into practice to great effect.
Maybe I am getting ahead of myself here, but we have tried the ‘big name’ managers before and they simply haven’t bought the success England fans crave.
For all of Southgate’s faults, he did bring England closer to a trophy than any other manager since Sir Alf Ramsey in 1966. Just like Carsley, he came through the under 21 set up and selected members of that squad when managing the senior side.
Many England fans are begging for the likes of Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp to be named the next manager, and while that would be fantastic, are they really going to want to take on the pressure of leading the national team? The chances are they won’t.
So, let’s get behind Carsley, give him a chance and if he is to prove his worth by playing the same style of football that has seen him reap the rewards with the under 21 side, why not give him the job permanently?
