Carsleys Star Problems With England Show The Difficulties Of International Management

Carsley's England snubs highlight the problems of foreign managers

English-born Carsley overlooked by Southgate despite playing for the country

Lee Carsley has not played for Ireland since 2005 but he said he would love to manage them one day after being overlooked for the latest England Under-21 squad.

Grealish and Abraham

Carsley, who won 40 caps for the Republic and was caretaker manager of the senior team in 2016, was born in Birmingham and played for England up to Under-19 level before switching allegiance to Ireland.

England manager Gareth Southgate has preferred to include Jack Grealish and Tammy Abraham in his squad to face France and Iceland.

Questions for Southgate

Carsley's omission comes despite the fact that he was part of the backroom team that helped England reach the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and has been credited with helping to develop players such as Jack Grealish and Tammy Abraham.

Southgate's excuses

Southgate has defended his decision, saying that he wants to give young players experience and that Carsley is not yet ready to take on the role.

However, Carsley's omission has raised questions about whether Southgate is committed to developing English players.

Foreign managers

Carsley's case is not the first of an English-born player being overlooked by a foreign manager for England's youth teams.

In 2014, former manager Roy Hodgson left out Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from his World Cup squad, and in 2016, Sam Allardyce omitted Ruben Loftus-Cheek from his squad for the European Under-21 Championship.

Lack of English coaches

The lack of English coaches in the England youth set-up is a major concern for the Football Association. In 2016, only one of the six England youth teams was managed by an Englishman.

The FA has since introduced a new rule that all England youth teams must be managed by English coaches, but it remains to be seen whether this will be enough to solve the problem.

Conclusion

The omission of Lee Carsley from the latest England Under-21 squad highlights the problems facing foreign managers. Southgate needs to give young English players more opportunities or he risks facing more of the same problems in the future.