If you want to know why Lee Carsley is so popular with his players, the answer lies in Tino Livramento’s phone.
The Newcastle United defender is one of four new faces in an overhauled England squad that is, quietly but assuredly, moving the national team on from a summer when results papered over some deeper technical and tactical cracks.
On the face of it, Carsley might seem like a curious choice to fire the first shots of that revolution.
Just like his predecessor Gareth Southgate he is an FA man, someone prepared to put the hours in talking to development coaches, watching presentations, tuning into the finer details of seminars about coaching methods.
And just like Southgate, the character references from those who have worked with him are impeccable.
A more grounded, down-to-earth person it will be difficult to find – from rattling collection buckets in his hometown of Solihull for the local Down’s syndrome support group to coaching kids at the local Strachan Football Foundation (something he’ll continue to do while England interim manager).
“Just a very, very, very good guy,” someone at a high level at a club he managed on a temporary basis tells i.
“Someone I had and have the utmost respect for. Just a fantastic professional and human being,” Mick McCarthy, a former manager of Carsley’s, says.
He recalls a “lovely, family man” to his three children, who he supported when son Connor was born with Down’s syndrome.
“Very understated, he didn’t want attention but everyone liked him,” David Moyes, who was his manager at Everton, tells i.
And Carsley – “Cars” or “Carso” to his players, rather than gaffer or boss – has retained that affection and loyalty among the Under-21 group he coached to a Euros triumph last year. It is easy to see why.
Livramento was a huge favourite of Carsley’s – technically excellent, tactically blessed with the versatility that coaches love – but missed the 2023 tournament as he rehabilitated an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Still in the heat of tournament competition, Carsley recognised that a key man in his squad might be struggling watching his teammates compete and found time to check in with him, asking about the progress of his recovery. Those texts were deeply appreciated by Livramento. They have not been forgotten.
But then it is typical of the sort of coach Carsley is. One former colleague says he “takes people with him not by shouting or screaming but by leading by example”. He believes Carsley will be able to inspire England’s biggest names “simply by showing them that he’s really good at what he does”.
“All that bulls**t about ‘Look at my medals’ might work for a few weeks and hoodwink the supporters but players work you out very quickly if that’s all you’ve got,” the insider says.
“The future is about people like Lee, that players respect because he’s a good person but also a really good coach.”
And that is borne out by testimonials from his U21 group. Anthony Gordon called him the “best man manager I’ve ever worked with”. Harvey Elliott hails him as “unbelievable” and perfectly suited to the top job.
“He’s a great coach but he’s an even better person,” Livramento concurs.
“Is he elite? Yeah, I’d say so because of what he did at the Euros and what he’s managed to do with the U21s. He’s got a very fluid style of play.
“The way he plays is something I really enjoy and with Joleon [Lescott] and Ash [Ashley Cole] it’ll be a good place to be.”
It should be little surprise that Carsley is regarded as such a “player’s manager”. His former bosses remember him the same: unselfish, serious about his work and really popular.
Although he has a dry sense of humour – “Definitely one of the lads, not isolated, always with a bit of craic,” McCarthy recalls – what shines through about him as a footballer is how valued he was by his colleagues.
“Cars was very understated. He didn’t want lots of attention, went about his job brilliantly well and as a player what he did for the team at that time he was incredibly important,” Moyes says.
Such was his importance and ability to a strong Everton side, the Scot remembers that when Real Madrid came calling for Thomas Gravesen, Carsley’s fellow bald-headed midfielder, they joked that the Spanish giants had picked the wrong player.
“He was someone that we all liked and was someone in the dressing room who everyone was really fond of because he was such a level-headed lad,” Moyes says.
“For me he was reading the game and helping out where we needed defensively and filling in when people were stepping out wide”
“He became an important, key figure for us at the time, he wasn’t he smoothest but was great at understanding what he had to do.”
That reading of the game is what stands out for McCarthy too.
“He had leadership qualities on the pitch,” he says.
“Cars led by example, doing the right things on and off the pitch.
“That shouldn’t be underestimated and believe me, you don’t get an U21 job these days if you’re not a very, very good coach.”
Carsley’s training ground style has evolved in the 13 years since he started out with Coventry’s U18s in 2011.
One Brentford source remembers him preparing a detailed, “impressive” dossier on his philosophy and coaching strategies when he got a development coach role with the west London side.
But the fluid attacking style he pioneered with the U21s appears to have borrowed from being part of “a group of 50 or 60” coaches who watched Pep Guardiola take a training session.
He has likened it to peeping behind the curtain in The Wizard of Oz and having a “lightbulb moment” seeing the way his teams moved and probed spaces.
Clearly, Carsley has thought deeply about how to evolve this England side to one that is capable of taking control of games against elite sides.
A short-term solution seems to be the off-the-radar inclusion of Angel Gomes, a graduate of Manchester United’s youth system who has been a mainstay of England age group sides without ever coming into Southgate’s thinking.
Paul McGuiness, a former U18 manager at Manchester United who worked for the FA as national coach developer, has witnessed the work of Carsley and Gomes, with the Red Devils since the age of six, at first hand.
While quick to point out others had much more to do with Gomes’ rise, he is well-placed to offer insight into the culture that has encouraged a player with a smaller frame but technical gifts to prosper.
“His old coach Neil Ryan – who works at the FA now – had a phrase ‘Intimidation by skill,'” he says.
“It used to be intimidation by physicality but things have changed.
“England have been fantastic the last few years but they need to go that next step now.”
Gomes plays his football for Lille in Ligue 1.
“People have said it’s a gamble taking someone who plays abroad who few people who have seen or heard of,” McGuiness says.
“But Lee has seen him up close and you’re talking about a guy who has had a long time in professional football.
“When we look at it in England we ask: how can we get players who can help us control the game and get up the pitch?
“Quite often we play players who are defensive, strong players in that role where other countries have had [Marco] Verratti, [Andrea] Pirlo or Jorginho, playmaker types. The last one we had was more of a Ray Wilkins type, a playmaker.
“If [Angel] does well it’s a massive boost for English football. All these Sunday league managers, non-league managers or people at academy level who write someone off will be going ‘Oh well, we should stick with them.’”
Of course, his future will not just be determined by the ability of Gomes to step up or England’s promotion from a straightforward Nations League group, there are other factors.
The scrutiny around the England managerial role can be suffocating, especially during major tournaments. Does Carsley really want that?
Some of those who have worked alongside him still doubt that he will want to take that next step.
“He’s such a great guy that one of the things that always came through was he didn’t want to let anyone down,” one former colleague said.
“He will step up and help and I think that’s what is happening with England – if they need him, he was always going to do it.”
Carsley was sat at Anfield recently, taking in Liverpool’s early season game with Brentford and one observer noted how little buzz there was around the new England manager.
He’s certainly not an “aura” guy, he’s hugely unshowy and if not uncomfortable with a microphone in front of him, certainly not willing to play the soundbite game.
In an environment where the England manager’s words can become big news and they are expected to comment on societal talking points, that could become an issue if he gets the role full-time.
“I’d be hugely surprised if he pushes for it. I’m not sure he really wants all of that side of it. He’s really not interested in the acclaim or adulation of the game, he just wants to develop players and help them be as good as they can be,” the ex-colleague said.
McCarthy sees it differently. He WhatsApp-ed Carsley a fortnight ago to congratulate him on getting the nod, wishing him all the best with the exception of Saturday, when they take on Ireland.
“What have England got to fear? It’s not as if he doesn’t know what the role entails, doing 20 weeks out of the year,” he says.
“I saw Spain winning the Euros with a guy coming through the U19s and U21s and I thought ‘Why not?’
“He’s seen a lot of those players coming through so why wouldn’t you do it in England’s position? Spain were bright enough to do that and look what they managed to do.”
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