England appoints Lee Carsley Three Lions interim manager
CHIGOZIE AMADI
Lee Carsley, the current England under-21 manager, will temporarily take charge of the men’s senior team, the English Football Association has announced.
The news was revealed in a Friday statement on the FA’s website titled “Lee Carsley appointed as England men’s interim head coach.
Also, England, #England posted, “Lee Carsley has been appointed interim head coach of the #ThreeLions ahead of the start of our #NationsLeague campaign.”
Gareth Southgate stepped down as England boss after eight years in charge in the aftermath of losing the Euro 2024 final to Spain last month.
Carsley would now follow Southgate’s path by graduating from the under-21 setup into the senior role.
It read, “Lee Carsley has been appointed interim head coach of England senior men ahead of the start of the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League campaign.
“Carsley will step up from his role in charge of the MU21s, initially for September’s fixtures away to Republic of Ireland and at home to Finland, but with a view to remaining in the position throughout autumn while the FA’s recruitment process for a new permanent head coach continues.
“The 50-year-old has been MU21 head coach since July 2021 and last year led the Young Lions to a first UEFA U21 European Championship since 1984. Prior to that, Carsley held various coaching roles across England’s development teams and was briefly in charge of the MU20s.”
The new coach will oversee Nations League fixtures against the Republic of Ireland and Finland in September and could remain in the role for longer depending on how quickly the FA finalise their search for Southgate’s successor.
“Carsley will step up from his role in charge of the MU21s (men’s under-21s) initially for September’s fixtures away to Republic of Ireland and at home to Finland,” the FA said in the statement.
“But with a view to remaining in the position throughout autumn while the FA’s recruitment process for a new permanent head coach continues.”
Carsley won 40 caps for the Republic of Ireland as a player and made over 300 Premier League appearances with Blackburn, Coventry, Everton and Birmingham.
In 2023 he led England to a first win at the under-21 Euros since 1984 and is familiar with a number of the current senior squad due to various coaching roles across the FA’s development teams.
However, he lacks senior managerial experience apart from short caretaker spells at Brentford and Birmingham.
“It’s an honour to step up and lead this England squad on an interim basis,” said Carsley.
“As I am very familiar with the players and the cycle of international football, it makes sense for me to guide the team while the FA continues the process of recruiting a new manager.
“My main priority is to ensure continuity and our goal is to secure promotion in the UEFA Nations League.”
According to the statement, he was involved in the last three major tournaments by supporting the wider technical team at UEFA EURO 2020, the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and UEFA EURO 2024 in Germany.
Carsley also has extensive experience at club level having worked closely with the first teams at Coventry City, Sheffield United, Brentford, Manchester City and Birmingham City.
Mark Bullingham, FA CEO, said, “Lee is a fantastic coach who is well known to the majority of our current senior squad having worked with most at international or club level. He offers us a very strong interim solution and we are confident he will perform well in the UEFA Nations League games ahead. We are grateful to Lee for stepping up to manage the team while we continue with our recruitment process.”
In Carsley’s absence, Ben Futcher will take charge of the MU21s for September’s forthcoming 2025 U21 EURO qualifiers, with respective backroom teams for both squads to be confirmed in due course.
England are in UEFA Nations League B Group 2 alongside Finland (September 10), Greece and Republic of Ireland.
