Michael Kenrick 07/09/2024 17comments  |  Jump to last

 

There appears to be a growing furore over new interim England coach, Lee Carsley, who has said he won't be singing either national anthem when England play Ireland in Dublin late this afternoon in their Nations League Group 2 game. 

The former Everton defender who has made his name as coach of the England U21s without any fuss is now being targetted by the dreaded cancel culture in a campaign seemingly stirred up by certain right-leaning newspapers and their mock outrage over him not singing of the national anthem when the teams are paraded.

Carsley, who was born in Birmingham but played as a full international for Ireland to reflect his heritage, has simply said singing the national anthem "is not my style" and that he found it an unnecessary distraction when preparing for games to start.

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"This [singing the anthem] is something that I always struggled with when I was playing for Ireland.

"The gap between your warm-up, you're 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."

Previously, the focus had been on former Irish players, Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, who switched their national allegiance to England before they found international success. 

 

Reader Comments (17)

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Mark Murphy
1 Posted 07/09/2024 at 10:49:25
The Mail and the Express have stirred up the mob by denouncing Lee Carsley, who played for Ireland, for not singing the English National anthem.

That's him available soon as our next manager I hope.

The Guardian have done a piece about Carsley in which they call Eddie Howe “the only successful English manager of an elite club”. I asked them to define 'successful' and 'elite'.

James Hughes
2 Posted 07/09/2024 at 11:10:07
Who cares if he sings the anthem or not?
Jim Wilson
3 Posted 07/09/2024 at 11:12:49
Well played Lee.
Bring him back to Goodison!
Nigel Scowen
4 Posted 07/09/2024 at 11:14:32
He didn’t sing the Irish National anthem as a player either, who gives a monkeys
Michael Kenrick
5 Posted 07/09/2024 at 11:15:06
What a absolutely despicable 'headline' from the utterly dreadful Mail:

Lee Carsley shockingly admits he will NOT sing the national anthem when he takes charge of England against Ireland in Dublin... risking fan fury on his audition as interim manager

Fred Quick
6 Posted 07/09/2024 at 11:21:34
Mark @1

The last English manager to win a trophy in England, was Harry Redknapp with Portsmouth back in 2008.

The list of honours won by English managers since the inception of the Premier League is as follows:

Ron Atkinson (Villa 1994) League cup.

Roy Evans (Liverpool 1995 ) League Cup

Joe Royle (Everton 1995) FA Cup

Brian Little (Aston Villa 1996) League Cup

Steve McLaren (Middlesbrough 2004) League Cup

Harry Redknapp (Portsmouth 2008) FA Cup

Since 1992, there have been an unbelievable 21 occasions where the losing finalist in a major cup final has been managed by an Englishman; 11 FA Cup finals and 10 League Cup finals, including Trevor Francis, Bryan Robson and Glenn Hoddle, who have all lost in both finals. This seems to suggest that the big occasion isn’t handled well by the English managers.

An even more alarming statistic is that only five English managers have taken charge of a Premier League side in the Champions League – Harry Redknapp (Spurs), Bobby Robson (Newcastle), Ray Harford (Blackburn), Howard Wilkinson (Leeds) and Phil Thompson, who took over as caretaker manager of Liverpool for a number of matches during the 2001/02 season while Gerard Houllier was recovering from a heart attack.

English Managers

They don't have Eddie Howe in that list managing Newcastle last season, because the article was published in 2018.

Come on Sean Dyche your time has arrived?

Tony Abrahams
7 Posted 07/09/2024 at 11:31:16
My team was shite, but did you see the way they sang the anthem before the game🤦‍♂️
Mick O'Malley
8 Posted 07/09/2024 at 11:39:28
What a load of nonsense, who cares if he sings I or not, I wouldn't sing it either
Trevor Bailey
9 Posted 07/09/2024 at 11:50:55
Excellent choice by Lee Carsley. It's a boring bloody dirge anyway
Alan McGuffog
10 Posted 07/09/2024 at 11:55:06
He's Irish, sort of. Why should he sing our bloody awful anthem?
If I lived in the U.S.A would I be expected to sing Home on the Range or whatever the feck they sing there ?
Dennis Stevens
11 Posted 07/09/2024 at 12:00:30
Isn't it the UK anthem as there isn't a separate English anthem ? Bloody dirge it is too.
I suspect that if they win, nobody will care.
Kevin O'Regan
12 Posted 07/09/2024 at 12:19:20
Does anyone care? Good decision by Lee. Move on.
Robert Tressell
13 Posted 07/09/2024 at 12:33:40
Strange that the so called nationalistic Express and Mail are so determined to undermine this country. They are like crack for thick people.

I presume they'd rather have shit managers like Lampard or Gerrard in charge as long as they were belting the anthem like Barry from Eastenders.

Rob Jones
14 Posted 07/09/2024 at 12:43:42
It's not strange at all, Robert. These people count on stirring outrage and misery. It hides the fact that they don't believe in anything at all beyond fragmenting the population.
Matt Byrne
15 Posted 07/09/2024 at 12:46:32
The Mail hate Everton so it's no surprise they are going after a manager who played a significant part of his playing career with us.
Danny O’Neill
16 Posted 07/09/2024 at 12:51:15
I don't bother too much for the England football team. I agree with Dennis about the anthem. It's the UK one, not the English one. I used to debate this with wife, who was staunchly English, whereas I never have been.

I pop out and watch it later, but I don't care if Lee Carsley sings either anthem or not.

I haven't looked, is Jake O'Brien in the Irish squad?

John Hall
17 Posted 07/09/2024 at 13:14:54
The English National anthem should be 'Land of Hope and glory' for sports games. For the political agaenda it should be 'God save the King', but that is the UK and Northern Ireland national anthem

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