Carsley drops hint over his England future after bowing out from interim spell

Lee Carsley has seemingly revealed he is open to taking up the permanent England job in the future after bowing out with a resounding win against the Republic of Ireland.

Carsley steered the Three Lions back to promotion to the top tier of the Nations League after winning five of his six games in charge.

A second-half scoring blitz secured a comfortable 5-0 win at Wembley on Sunday evening, allowing the interim head coach to hand over the reins to Thomas Tuchel on a high.

Tuchel will officially take up his duties early next year, while Carsley will return to his previous role at the helm of the Under-21s.

But after leading his side to another eye-catching result against the Irish, Carsley dropped a hint that he would enjoy leading the senior team again.

“It has given the staff and myself confidence that we can get the job done,” he told ITV. “That was the big thing, you always doubt yourself whether you can do it or not.

“We often talk about how there are a lot of English managers in-house to choose the team and the squad and they have a responsibility to do that. The trust of my bosses has given me a huge boost of confidence.'

Tuchel has signed an 18-month contract with the Three Lions that will see him through the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, raising the possibility that Carsley could be eligible to step in again after the tournament.

But Carsley is instead firmly focused on providing Tuchel and his coaching staff with a thorough handover. He said: “We will debrief the entire staff, and then we will do a football debrief to the coaching staff of the three sides.

“Then the plan will be for me to feed it back to Thomas and John McDermott.”

Carsley, 50, added: “I'm not sure I'll give it to him [Tuchel] lots of advice.

“He's in a better position than me, given the experience he's had [in management] and the staff he has. It will probably be more the players, the personalities and the things you don't see on TV.'

Shortly after the final whistle at Wembley, FA chief executive Mark Bullingham paid tribute to Carsley's work during his short interim spell.

Bullingham said: “I would like to thank Lee Carsley and his coaching team for their hard work and results in the last six games.

'Lee has achieved the main objective of the six matches this autumn: securing promotion to the top of the Nations League.

“He has selected some exciting new players and will provide a very detailed handover to Thomas Tuchel and Anthony Barry as they begin work on our 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign.

'The players have really enjoyed working with Lee and his team; they have made a real impact in their interim roles.

'Lee now returns to the Under-21s and will continue to play a vital role in supporting the senior side by developing England's best young players.

“His leadership and coaching give us the best possible chance of back-to-back U21 EURO victories next summer, and he will continue to play a major role in the development of top-flight football within the FA.”