Reporter’s notebook: Lee Carsley won’t have to sing national anthem as England manager | Football news

It is not a requirement that in order to be England manager you have to sing the national anthem. Nor do I think it in any way follows that if you do NOT sing the anthem you are unpatriotic.

Let’s face it, the vast majority of English fans don’t give a damn whether Lee Carsley sings the national anthem or not.

What they really care about is whether he wins matches, whether he plays good football and ultimately whether he can deliver England the holy grail of a major trophy.

But there is something more social, something more fundamental in the debate over whether the England manager should sing God save the king.

Sven Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello didn’t sing it. Did it matter? Did it affect their ability to do their jobs?

And why should it affect Carsley’s credentials? Born in Birmingham with family in County Cork, he’s Irish. And English. What’s the problem?

Dual nationality is part of modern society and is a feature of the England team that should be celebrated, not frowned upon in an old-fashioned, nationalistic way.

Jack Grealish and Declan Rice both played junior football for Ireland but switched to England. That’s a problem here in Dublin, where many Irish fans understandably feel aggrieved. They’re likely to receive a hostile reception at the Aviva Stadium.

Just look at the complexity of national identity in this selection alone. Bukayo Saka could represent either England or Nigeria; Kobbie Mainoo, England and Ghana; Morgan Gibbs-White, England and Jamaica; Cole Palmer, England and St Kitts; Tino Livramento, England, Scotland and Portugal; Angel Gomes, England and Portugal; Harry Kane has Irish family and could have chosen to play for the Boys in Green; Anthony Gordon could have played for Scotland, Ireland or England. The list goes on.

Furthermore, a number of England players have chosen not to sing the anthem in the past. Gary Neville and Trent Alexander-Arnold immediately come to mind. Are we suggesting that they are less patriotic or less “English” because they didn’t sing the anthem?

Lee Carsley is Irish and English. He does not – and has never – sung the national anthems of either country. He says he has always been too focused on the game to do so.

Either way, if he were to choose to sing one or the other, it would be seen by some as a conscious decision to reject the other part of his identity, and he clearly doesn’t want to do that. And he shouldn’t have to.

Nowadays I don’t believe you can define someone by the country they want to represent. Does it matter? For a player of course it does, who has to choose which country they want to represent.

Carsley chose Ireland as his player. But does it matter whether Carsley is Irish or English? Does it make him more skilled or more suited to managing England? Absolutely not.