The former Everton player oversaw five wins in six games as England interim manager, but what’s next?
Lee Carsley’s managerial future is up in the air following the former Everton midfielder’s final game in charge of England.
Carsley, 50, has just completed his interim spell in charge of England, rounding off his time with a 5-0 win over the Republic of Ireland at Wembley to secure qualification to the top tier of the UEFA Nations League. The Three Lions managed five wins and one defeat across the past few months and he leaves with his reputation in a strong place regarding his future.
As it stands, his contract with England runs out in the summer. His interim status will apply until the new year, when Thomas Tuchel will take over, before returning to the U21s to hopefully retain their European Championship title. In the past few international breaks, he has been quizzed over taking control of England full-time after Tuchel, to which he hasn’t given a direct answer to.
His stock is clearly on the rise but his future remains unclear but he outlined the next steps after his final win in charge. “We will debrief with all of the staff, and then we will do a debrief on the football to the coaching staff on the three camps. Then the plan will be, I will feed it back into Thomas and John McDermott. I am not sure I will give him [Tuchel] a lot of advice.”
The FA’s chief executive, Mark Bullingham, has since given us a clearer image of what will happen next. 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 will now return to the Under-21s and will continue to play a vital role supporting the seniors by developing England’s best young players. His leadership and coaching gives us the best possible chance of back-to-back U21 EURO wins next summer, and he will continue to play a big part in elite football development across the FA.”
With that hint there – regarding the ‘continue to play a big part’ comment – it is likely we will see Carsley remain embedded in England’s youth development. Of course, the Everton job may well be available in the summer as the Friedkin Group could look to move into a new era with a new man at the helm but, for now at least, he look set to remain within the England setup.
