Lee Carsley’s decision puts pressure on FA to make a spectacular appointment

John McDermott
John McDermott, the FA’s technical director, is leading the search for a long-term successor to Gareth Southgate - Eddie Keogh/The FA via Getty Images

Now we know it is not going to be Lee Carsley. Now there is a little more clarity as to who the next England manager will be. Or rather will not be.

In fairness to the Football Association, it never said that the six ties of this autumn Nations League campaign were an audition to see whether Carsley could make the step up to the senior job. The FA never said it was his to lose and he never said he actually wanted it.

If, as now expected, Carsley goes back to the under-21s next month, he should be thanked for helping out as he was asked to do. He was acting dutifully and is clearly a decent man and an admired development coach.

It is absolutely his prerogative not to want to be England manager but it does raise the issue as to why not? And – rather pertinently – should the FA even have a head coach for the 21s, however good and successful he is (and Carsley won the European Championship), who does not want to be part of a succession plan?

The FA has insisted it would run a thorough process to find Gareth Southgate’s successor and that Carsley was the interim solution. And that the process would remain confidential.

Gareth Southgate
The FA is taking its time to find the right man to succeed Gareth Southgate - Marc Atkins/Getty Images

Fair enough. But, at the same time, the FA must also have hoped that Carsley might quickly grow into it and would want it, therby emulating the successful route of both the world champions (Argentina – who promoted Lionel Scaloni) and the European champions (Spain – who moved up Luis de la Fuente).

It would have been seamless and a ringing endorsement of the FA’s coaching pathway and of the work of St George’s Park and – let us be honest – would have been an easier and cheaper solution.

Now we must hope that the FA’s technical director, John McDermott, and chief executive, Mark Bullingham, have been working diligently behind the scenes and have their plan in place even if it is a surprise – as reported by Telegraph Sport on Friday – that they have not formally interviewed any of the leading candidates.

It raises the question: what are they waiting for? More worryingly, it also raises the fear – who actually wants it? The deadline for applications was August 2 – just two weeks after the Euros final (why so early?) although the FA insists it was never a hard deadline. After all, Carsley did not even apply. We now know why.

We also know there has been a shortlist, regularly updated and even when Southgate was in charge, which McDermott oversees.

And we know the basic criteria:

  1. It does not have to be an English manager but it does have to be someone who is an Anglophile (ie. he has worked in England before, speaks the language, knows the players). They will not parachute in someone as happened with Fabio Capello in 2008.

  2. The top salary that can be offered is £4-5 million which is at the lower end of what a Premier League manager would receive and therefore it needs to be a young coach on the up or an older one who wants to go into international football or one for whom money is less important at present.

  3. It has to be a manager who is a good man-manager and sets the culture. Improving players is not high on the remit as they will not have enough time with them to do that.

  4. And it also has to be someone who can handle the scrutiny, exposure and the ambassadorial nature of the role (although that is less easily definable).

Appointing Carsley as interim was logical and also bought the FA time. Time will now tell how the FA has used that time. The clock is ticking. The World Cup draw – which presumably Carsley will still attend – takes place in December in Switzerland. After that we will know if England’s qualification campaign kicks off in March, June or September although it may be complicated if they go into a Nations League play-off unless they can overhaul Greece.

The fact is the FA’s plan means it must now deliver something spectacular when it announces the appointment of the next England manager. The process it has chosen demands it. The heat is on McDermott and Bullingham otherwise they can be accused of simply buying themselves time.

Mark Bullingham
The heat is on FA CEO Mark Bullingham - Steve Welsh/PA Wire

We know it will not be Mauricio Pochettino, as he is now the head coach of the United States men’s team. There is uncertainty over Newcastle United’s Eddie Howe. Graham Potter is out of work and available but, again, seems to prefer to go back into club management.

Ange Postecoglou is on McDermott’s list, and has been tracked since he was coaching in Japan, but even if the Australian was interested it would be extremely expensive to extricate him from his contract at Tottenham Hotspur. We know Thomas Tuchel is interested but would he be the right fit? Is he affordable? Do the FA still want him? (The German was a strong candidate had Southgate walked after the last World Cup.)

And then there is the dream appointment of Pep Guardiola, but even if he wanted it there is no way, surely, before the end of the season. So does Carsley carry on? What if the FA cannot get its man before March? Is the governing body treading water?

There is another possibility. The FA may have someone completely left-field up their sleeve, as it did with Ralf Rangnick, whom it spoke to before Sam Allardyce briefly followed Roy Hodgson in 2016.

Whoever it is, it has to be a convincing, impressive appointment. That is for sure now. The time it is taking demands that. The job demands that. The FA’s approach demands it. We know it is not Carsley and maybe now that news is out it may even come as a relief to him.

The FA never said it was a shoo-in; never said it was his to lose. It has been consistent in that. But there must, also, be a pang of regret that it is not Carsley. And not least because of the pressure it is under to deliver.