England’s Lee Carsley keeps national anthem pledge and sits on wrong bench

07-Sep-2024 16:41:05 | Guardian

Interim coach mistakenly sits on Ireland bench in Dublin
Carsley, Rice and Grealish all booed by home supporters

Lee Carsley insisted that the decision to go through with his pledge not to sing the English national anthem ahead of his first game as interim head coach does not make him “any less committed” to do the job.

Goals from Declan Rice and Jack Grealish in the first half set up a comfortable victory for England over the Republic of Ireland in the Nations League. Carsley, who was born in Birmingham and won 40 Ireland caps having qualified through a grandmother, had been criticised in some quarters after admitting that he would not change his pre-match routine by singing God Save the King because he wants to “focus on the football”.