Sport

The FA should have given the England job to Lee Carsley but they bottled it

Admin 3 days ago

9 5 minutes read

The FA's chief executive Mark Bullingham was first out of the blocks with his tribute to Lee Carsley after Carsley's final game as interim England boss on Sunday evening.

The statement came a few minutes after the end of England's 5-0 defeat by the Republic of Ireland. In fact, Carsley's blood was barely dry by the time the statement was released.

Bullingham thanked Carsley for his 'hard work and results'. He noted that in his six games, Carsley had selected a number of 'exciting new players' in temporary charge.

And he said Carsley would give Thomas Tuchel and assistant Anthony Barry a 'very detailed handover' to help them in England's World Cup qualifying campaign.

And that was it. A little damage control from English football's governing body. An attempt to cover up a nervous breakdown. Thank you and good night.

None of this could disguise the fact that the FA has failed the English game spectacularly in the way it has handled Gareth Southgate's succession as permanent England boss.

They should have given the job to Carsley, who had done everything possible to justify his promotion from his position as Under-21 boss by winning the European age-group championships last year.

It's a template that has worked flawlessly for Spain and Argentina, but when push came to shove, the FA simply didn't have the faith or conviction to see it through.

So they returned to type. They did the lazy thing. They did what they thought was safest. They went for a boss who would please social media. They went for Tuchel.

They returned to the staring, swooning short-term decision-making process that once brought us Fabio Capello as a disastrous England manager.

And they threw out the window all the good work they had done to support Southgate and give him the platform to transform England's fortunes.

Tuchel is an excellent manager and an intelligent man. And he may have great success with England. Let's face it, he should after what was left to him.

But he's not a sure bet. That's no one. His most recent managerial credential was becoming the first Bayern Munich manager to fail to win a trophy in more than a decade.

He is smart and defiant, clever and tactically astute, but he also has a habit of arguing with people, which can be a problem in a job that requires a lot of diplomacy.

Tuchel's temperament could soon become an issue if Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery or Eddie Howe tell him that a player is unavailable for England due to injury.

As good as Tuchel may be, the hurtful and disheartening thing is that the FA had the answer right under their noses all along.

They had done all the hard work. They had charted a path through which homegrown coaching talent could emerge and thrive at a high level.

They had begun to build a system and line of succession that would encourage young English coaches to see a way forward.

They had started acting like a nation again with a well-thought-out, coherent plan. Then they fled in the other direction.

They had groomed Carsley for the top job and he had repaid them with great success in the Under-21s.

And then, at the crucial moment, just when it seemed right for Carsley to take the permanent job after Southgate's race was run in the summer, the FA blew it.

They let English coaches lay the foundation for victory in international football's biggest prize of all and then handed the responsibility for the finishing touches to Tuchel.

Even in the six games he was in charge of the senior team, Carsley provided ample evidence that he should have been the man to lead England to the 2026 World Cup.

I don't make that argument because England won 5-0 against an Irish team that was ordinary and limited, even before they were reduced to 10 men early in the second half at Wembley.

I make it because Carsley showed he had the courage and judgment to make the tough decisions that would help England evolve into a tournament-winning team over the next eighteen months.

Carsley knows the brilliant group of young English players coming through from the Under-21s better than anyone and he demonstrated that with his bold but judicious use of them over the past two months.

He also had the courage to face the issue of captain Harry Kane's position in the England side and the idea that he might no longer be a key signing in the summer of 2026.

Kane was untouchable under Southgate, but Carsley changed that when he left him out of the starting line-up in Greece last week.

He gave Ollie Watkins a chance and Watkins took it. And along the way, the debate over whether England need a more mobile striker, one who won't fall into the space occupied by a No. 10 like Jude Bellingham or Cole Palmer, has gathered pace.

It will be interesting to see whether Tuchel, who has built a close working relationship with Kane at Bayern, will be as unencumbered by the weight of history and reputation as Carsley.

Tuchel has difficult acts to follow. Both at Southgate, who was England's most successful manager since Sir Alf Ramsey and who created a new positive culture around the national team, and now at Carsley.

Jude Bellingham, England's best and most important player, looked a rejuvenated man as Carsley trusted him as England's No.10. His quality shone as brightly as ever. Other players lined up to say how much they loved playing for Carsley.

Carsley was exactly what England needed at this stage: someone who could guide a wonderfully talented group with a light hand. Not a personality manager who will try to stamp his individuality into the team. Not someone who wants to make it about him.

Under Carsley, England have taken the step forward they needed after Southgate's departure. They have regained the momentum they were in danger of losing.

Frankly, it beggars belief that an organization like the FA, which is supposed to have the best interests of the national game at heart, should have ushered him back into the Under-21s.

Like any England supporter, I hope that Tuchel is a roaring success and that England get the absolute best version of him as a coach. I hope he leads the country to victory in the World Cup finals in New Jersey in the summer of 2026. What a ride that would be, a lifelong ambition fulfilled for every England fan.

And I hope there are no regrets about what the FA did this autumn. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's what they say. But the FA sorted it out. Or they tried. And now we will find out if they broke something instead.

Bentancur's ban is harsh, but fair

Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur was given a seven-match restraining order by the FA on Monday for racist comments about teammate Son Heung-min. The ban seems a bit harsh on Spurs, but it is also fair.

And anyway, tough is what football needs right now as cases of racist abuse increase. It's time for the game to start handing out penalties that act as a deterrent.

It is certainly much preferable to the way Enzo Fernandez was treated after he was filmed chanting racist and homophobic slurs about the France team while on international duty with Argentina last summer.

That was outside the FA's jurisdiction, so no blame can be attributed to them for the lack of subsequent sanctions against Fernandez. However, Chelsea's reaction was more disturbing.

Instead of throwing the book at him, he was made captain.