Lee Carsley has said refusing to sing the English national anthem doesn’t make him “any less committed” to the job after starting his spell as interim head coach with a 2-0 win over Republic of Ireland.
Goals from former Ireland players Declan Rice and Jack Grealish sealed a deserved UEFA Nations League victory for the England in Dublin — their first match since Gareth Southgate stepped down following their Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain.
Carsley, who was capped 40 times by Republic of Ireland as a player, revealed in the build-up that he would not sing the anthem, continuing a life-long strategy of focusing on his preparation in the final minutes before kick-off.
That stance prompted a backlash in certain quarters — amid accusations of being unpatriotic or not understanding the responsibilities that come with managing England — but Carsley said: “It has definitely not affected my day or preparations. I found out about it this morning.
“I fully respect people’s opinions. It is something I’ve never done but I fully respect both national anthems.
“Today will be one of the proudest days of my career, to lead an England team out in Dublin. You definitely couldn’t have wrote it. But I don’t feel hard done by or aggrieved. I respect everyone’s opinion.
“I’ve played in teams out there where players are belting out the anthem next to me but also I’ve played in teams where players or coaches don’t sing. I don’t think it makes me or anyone else who doesn’t sing any less committed.
“I was looking forward so much to today … I saw the draw a while back and I thought to myself ‘that is going to be a really good game.’
“Fast forward and two weeks ago it sunk in that I was going to take over the team, the first’s game’s in Dublin, I knew it was going to be a good experience but a bit of a test also.
“I would never judge anyone for singing or not. I have a great experience when I played for the Republic of Ireland and I’m having a really good experience now in terms of the responsibility that I’ve got of being head coach interim for the senior team. You’ve got to accept that with that does come a bit of judgement.”
Rice and Grealish both represented Ireland before switching their allegiance to England, a fact that led to the pair being targeted by the home fans for abuse throughout the match. Rice refused to celebrate his 11th-minute opener.
“They have both been in football long enough now to understand and respect that it was going to be a bit hostile at times, but in the right way — I thought the fans were really respectful with it.
“I thought they both handled the atmosphere, as did the whole team. We tried to speak about ‘it’s going to be [intense] for everyone, not just for Dec and Jack.’ It is great for those two they scored the goals but more importantly the team has won and kept a clean sheet.”