Carsley has revealed to me that he has not formally applied to become a permanent England manager, but wants “no regrets” during his time as caretaker manager.
The Football Association turned to the 50-year-old for UEFA Nations League matches in the autumn after Gareth Southgate suspended his reign following July’s Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain.
Carsley has often deflected questions about whether he wants to become a full-time England coach, including saying he “hopes” to return to the role with the Under-21s.
The former midfielder dodged follow-up questions about whether he wanted the starting job after Thursday’s 2-1 defeat to Greece and was investigated further ahead of Sunday’s match in Finland.
Asked if he had applied for the job, Carsley told talkSPORT: “No, I haven’t formally applied for it.”
Asked why he didn’t apply, Carsley said: “Because I’m hoping to play in the Under-21 Championship and I’m really happy with my work.”
“I’m an FA employee and I was asked to join the first team, which is a privilege. It was the proudest moment of my career.”
“I’m in a really lucky position because I’m on the inside and I can see how much potential this team has. It’s one of the best jobs in world football.
“There’s not a lot of jobs where you have a chance to win. I think the coach that comes in has a really good chance of winning and we deserve the best coach ever.”
Is Carly able to handle the job?
The painful 2-1 loss to Greece raised question marks about whether interim England coach Carsley would be able to take over the job full-time.
Carsley made changes for the match against Greece, fielding a side featuring a large number of attacking midfielders, but without an established starter.
Image: Evangelis Pavlidis celebrates scoring Greece’s first goal against England by pointing to his black armband in honor of the late George Baldock
The result was an unbalanced team, as Greece was able to break through easily, and deserved to beat England at Wembley to secure a historic result for the visitors.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s UEFA Nations League clash with Finland, Carsley appeared to play down his chances of becoming England’s next permanent manager, saying he wanted to give his interim spell his “best chance”.
“I think the reaction (to the loss to Greece) is fair enough. You have to respect people’s opinions. We didn’t perform as well as we could have that night, and I expect a reaction.” [Sunday] “Night (against Finland),” Carsley said.
“I think it’s something I’ll revisit in two or three months, you know, it’ll be better for him.
“I wanted to do my best in this business for the three camps we talked about. I didn’t want to have any regrets.
“It’s important to try something different sometimes. I think I’ll be a better coach for that.”
Analysis: Carsley accepts scrutiny for the position
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Sky Sports’ Tim Thornton reacts to report that interim coach Lee Carsley ‘doesn’t want a full-time job in England’.
Analysis from Tim Thornton, chief correspondent for Sky Sports News, following a report that members of the England coaching staff are convinced that Lee Carsley does not want to succeed Gareth Southgate on a full-time basis:
“Let’s not forget that this is a secret operation, to find a successor to Gareth Sohtgate.
“The FA’s position throughout this process is that they do not comment, it is a confidential process, and we do not expect that position to change.
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Sky Sports’ Tim Thornton and Ron Walker talk about England’s 2-1 defeat to Greece and what it could mean for Lee Carsley’s future in the position.
“There has been a lot of scrutiny regarding Lee Carsley over the past few days.
“There has been scrutiny in his team selection, in his tactics, in his press conferences as well – and on Saturday he said it was fair enough, and I accept the scrutiny, it is part of the job. He accepted that some of it was fair.”
Carsley said he would adopt a more traditional approach against Finland, and a return to a more standard system would likely mean captain Harry Kane would lead the line a month after he celebrated his 100th cap with two goals in a 2-0 win over Finland at Wembley.
Jack Grealish is also available after joining the England captain in his absence from Greece’s knockout defeat, but Bukayo Saka and Curtis Jones have left the camp ahead of the trip to Finland.
“We trained yesterday too, so Harry and Jack passed the training session,” Carsley said.
“We’re in a good place. I think it’s important to freshen up the team a little bit, but yeah, we feel confident we’re in a good place.”
Huge crowds await at the Olympic Stadium as England make their first visit to Finland since caretaker manager Howard Wilkinson oversaw a 0-0 draw in Helsinki 24 years ago.
What’s next?
England’s Nations League campaign continues against Finland on Sunday, October 13; Kick off at 5pm.
