3 days Ago By Irishexaminer.com
TWO bruising defeats to England showed Ireland two players they once held in their grasp and a coach they hope eventually won’t be beyond it. Memories of Jack Grealish and Declan Rice donning the Irish shirt were too recent when both scoring at Lansdowne Road in September reactivated the trauma. Lee Carsley’s role in inflicting a 7-0 aggregate mauling over the pair of Nations League games wasn’t so pronounced.
The soft-spoken Brummie is averse to gloating and mindful of respecting the country he won 40 senior caps for. Yet he was also a figurehead once deemed attainable for the current Ireland set-up. Carsley had never assumed a permanent managerial role of a senior team when the FAI headhunters sat down with him last November to discuss their vacancy.
He was the man who’d led England’s U21s to their first Euro crown in 38 years but his CV was awash with caretaker stints and developmental roles. Ireland wasn’t the only employer he held discussions with. Stoke City were one of a few Championship clubs who believed the 50-year-old was capable of stepping into their main role.
As is his style and wont, Carsley listened and was inquisitive before ultimately deciding he was better served sticking with the English FA. Loyalty, as his former Ireland manager Brian Kerr highlighted, was a trait he held dear. It wasn’t always apparent during a playing career he was often derided, the default fall-guy when blame was to be apportioned, but Carsley lives by it as his backbone of management.
That meant once he began a cycle with his latest U21 intake 14 months ago, only an alluring offer would prise him away. As it transpired, the only one to entice him was an offer he couldn’t refuse, the senior England vacancy created by Gareth Southgate’s departure after Euro 2024 in July. Carsley’s relationship with the English FA’s director of football John McDermott is concrete, to the extent the coach had scouted and provided opposition analysis for Southgate during tournaments.
Formerly performing a similar role at Tottenham, McDermott has an appreciation for the landscape beyond St George’s Park and would not stand in Carsley’s way were he to accept an alternative challenge in the market. We may never learn precisely how close it came to Carsley being in the Irish, rather than English, dugout for these pair of fixtures 10 weeks apart. His account of the FAI dealings being confined to one initial meeting is accurate but it’s understood dialogue resumed at the turn of the year beyond exploratory to the stage budgets for backroom staff were broached.
From the FAI side, their assertion at the Nations League draw in February of no individual being offered the job was also correct. That event in Paris was the first of their two self-imposed deadlines missed. What began with candidate interviews by Jonathan Hill, Marc Canham and Packie Bonner progressed to a deeper one-on-one with the Chief Football Officer, as Canham is now titled.
Hill drifted from the action after his calamitous appearance before a government committee in February while president Paul Cooke emerged to the forefront. In as much as Carsley was rated by the panel, reservations were also raised. He fulfilled the criteria of being an ‘on-the-grass coach with international experience’ but the absence of dealing with senior personnel — those with influence in the dressing-room — cast a doubt over his suitability.
Simultaneously, Heimir Hallgrimsson was being sounded out. Trips to a Reykjavik dental surgery were arranged. As the Jamaica manager preparing for the Copa América, he was a stickler for confidentiality, adamant leaks could jeopardise any prospect of him assuming control.
For some bizarre reason, Canham and the FAI were confident of rerouting him from Ivory Coast to Ireland in April. So the explanation goes. Back to Carsley.
His audition in the senior sphere was as smooth for himself, as it was painful to Ireland. Promotion to League A of the Nations League was the stated objective over six matches and delivered, completed with eight debutants. That all were graduates from his U21 ranks copper-fastened the sense of continuity.
When he spoke at the outset in September of this England team deserving a world-class manager, he wasn’t referring to himself. That’s just the self-effacing character friends and colleagues know him to be. He wasn’t surprised that The FA reverted to an external spearhead in their quest to move one step closer to ending their 50 year wait for a tournament win.
Nor was he miffed at being overlooked — if he was, at all, interested in permanency. For all the sweetness and light stemming from five wins, Carsley was swift to amplify the “loneliness in Wembley” he felt after losing to Greece last month. Four weeks previously, he was accused by a pious UK columnist of being a ‘closet Irishman’ for continuing his stance of declining to sing the national anthem.
Thomas Tuchel will soon discover the rules of engagement too but within an hour of Carsley’s tenancy concluding with the 5-0 demolition of Ireland, his chief was getting territorial. “Lee’s leadership and coaching gives us the best possible chance of back-to-back U21 Euro wins next summer,” said Mark Bullingham. “He will continue to play a big part in elite football development across the FA.
” Suitors won’t be deterred. Robbie Keane being the former Ireland international among the contenders for the Coventry City vacancy is owing to Carsley’s stock rising above second tier level. Everton’s habitual managerial uncertainty ensures their former midfielder is on the contingency list while it’s widely regarded that Manchester City, where he coached Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho in the youth team, are observing in the context of succession planning.
As Wembley fell silent an hour after the final whistle, Carsley was joined on the pitch by his former teammate Clinton Morrison. Like Roy Keane, Morrison was on media duties and the pair of pals joked about their time together wrestling for spots in the Ireland team. Hallgrimsson hasn’t disguised the possibility of his stay being short-term, reflected by his contract potentially having only 12 months to run, and the onus is on the FAI to start planning.
Carsley has added the missing ingredient to his repertoire and seems destined to be implementing that experience elsewhere by the time the FAI come calling again. Women hold last chance of Irish success this year That’s the lid placed on Ireland men’s team for 2024 but this is a qualifying year for the women, concluding against Wales on December 3. Eileen Gleeson is at Lansdowne Road tomorrow to unveil her squad for the two-leg playoff with the Dragons for a place at the Switzerland-hosted Euros next July.
As the League A team, Ireland are fancied to prevail but the Welsh were also in top-tier territory in the previous cycle and recorded a 2-0 victory at Tallaght in February. That was only a friendly, but the torment caused by Jess Fishlock underlined the threat carried by the Welsh in attack. She’d turned 37 a month before and continues to illuminate the American scene for Seattle Reign.
One of the defenders earmarked to shackle Fishlock, Aoife Mannion, has emerged as a major doubt. She’s been ruled out for a couple of weeks by Manchester United, joining fellow defenders Louise Quinn and Diane Caldwell on the injured list. On the upside, Caitlin Hayes has returned to the Celtic XI and Anna Patten was on target for Aston Villa — the sole Irish player in the Women’s Super League to find the net so far this season.
Up first is the away leg at the Cardiff City Stadium on Friday, November 29 (7.15pm), followed by the return to Lansdowne four days later. Extra-time and penalties will decide which of the nations qualifies for their first-ever Euro finals.
Meanwhile, Ireland’s U19 men’s team advanced to the elite stage of the Euro qualifiers by topping their group with a 2-1 win over Iceland yesterday. Naj Razi, the former Shamrock Rovers teen snapped up by Italian outfit Como, bagged the winner with 21 minutes left. Email: john.
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