England manager: I won’t sing our anthem

Birmingham-born manager who made 40 appearances for Ireland as a player hints he will not sing God Save the King with his squad in Dublin

England interim manager Lee Carsley has suggested that he will not sing the national anthem — just as he did not when he played for the Republic of Ireland or as the Under-21 manager of the Three Lions.
Carsley takes charge of the England senior team for the first time on Saturday against Republic of Ireland, the country he made 40 appearances for as a player.
But, despite being born in Birmingham and winning the European Championship as Under-21 manager last summer, Carsley has intimated that he will not sing God Save the King with his players inside the Aviva Stadium.
Asked if he will sing the English national anthem on Saturday, or the Irish anthem, Carsley said: “This is something that I always struggled with when I was playing for Ireland. The gap between your warm-up, your coming on to the pitch and the delay with the anthems. So it’s something that I have never done.
“I was always really focussed on the game and my first actions of the game. I really found that in that period I was wary about my mind wandering off. I was really focused on the football and I have taken that into coaching.
“We had the national anthem with the Under-21s also and I am in a zone at that point. I am thinking about how the opposition are going to set up and our first actions within the game. I fully respect both anthems and understand how much they mean to both countries. It’s something I am really respectful of.”
Asked to confirm if he ever sings the anthem, Carsley added: “No (I don’t).
Should Carsley not sing the anthem, it will be in stark contrast to his predecessor Gareth Southgate who would be picked up by television cameras and microphones belting it out loud and proud.
But Carsley will not be the first England manager not to sing the national anthem. While the country’s first foreign manager Sven Goran Eriksson tried his best, Italian Fabio Capello decided against doing so.
“I won’t sing the national anthem because I feel it is wrong to sing another country’s anthem,” said Capello. “I do get goosebumps when I hear it though.”
Describing his first game in charge of England, Swede Eriksson, who died last month, said: “I thought I knew a bit about cold, but I can say it was absolutely freezing at Villa Park. The national anthem is another. I’m not sure I ever entirely mastered ‘God Save the Queen’ but there I was, a Swede, standing in front of the bench and trying to sing it a bit.”
Carsley won his first Ireland cap in 1997, having qualified through his grandmother who is from Dunmanway, County Cork. Recalling his early memories of playing for Ireland, he once said: “I remember enjoying the game, the playing of the national anthem and my family coming over and watching. Being in a new group, playing with new players was exciting times.”
It is not just Carsley who has allegiances to both teams on Saturday, as Declan Rice and Jack Grealish both represented Ireland before switching to England.
Asked if he has spoken to the pair about the reception they might receive, Carsley said: “No I’ve not spoken to them two individually. I spoke to the team about understanding the atmosphere. Not only the atmosphere, but the new (Ireland) coach, so we are still quite unsure on what to expect.
“I think if two players are prepared for it and everyone else isn’t, it’s going to be a bit of a shock but yeah we’ve spoken about what we think Ireland may do and the atmosphere and the tempo, and we will be ready for whatever we come up against.”
Captain Harry Kane is another England player who qualified for Ireland, through his grandparents, but never considered representing any country apart from the Three Lions.
“My dad was born in England and his mum and dad were born in Ireland, so my grandparents were Irish,” said Kane. “But me being born in England I always thought England was and is my country.
“I am extremely respectful to Ireland and my grandparents who are no longer with us, but I still have family over there so I am extremely respectful of them and I am sure they are looking forward to seeing me play in Dublin.
“I don’t think it was ever on the radar. I would have to ask my dad for sure, he hasn’t told me about it if there was, but there might have been a few conversations when I was in the youth team that I didn’t know about. But I was focused on England and because I was in England teams from a young age there was no need to think about anything else.”
On Rice and Grealish, Kane added: “I haven’t spoken to Dec and Jack. I think everyone has their path to their career and theirs was a small part with Ireland and the rest of it with England. So they are mature enough to deal with that and it’s going to be a tough game, the atmosphere will be tough. 
“We are going into a place where we expect it to be a little bit hostile, but that is no different to a lot of away games we face. Everyone has a different path and for Dec and Jack it was just part of their footballing career so far.”
Ireland also have a new manager, Heimir Hallgrímsson, who is Icelandic and was in charge of Iceland when they famously knocked England out of the European Championship in 2016.
Hallgrimsson was previously in charge of Jamaica and learned the Jamaican national anthem, which has resulted in an expectation that he will try to sing the Irish anthem Amhran na bhFiann.
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