Lee Carsley’s suggestion that the next England manager should be someone with trophies on his c.v. is well-intentioned and understandable, if not hugely born out by the examples set by other more successful nations.
The current world champions Argentina were guided to the ultimate glory in Qatar by Lionel Scaloni, a coach whose only prior experience had been with his country’s Under 20s.
European champions Spain, meanwhile, have at the helm a 63-year-old in Luis de la Fuente who dabbled unsuccessfully in club management and then started winning once in the international system. He has so far lifted trophies for Spain at Under 19, Under 21 and, last summer in Germany, senior level.
This tells us what people at the English FA have known for a while, namely that coaching at international level is a completely different business than club management. Our own FA have gone done the serial winner route before. Sven Goran Eriksson, Fabio Capello. Where did that get us? Quarter-final and home.
So Carsley may be wrong. The FA could hire Pep Guardiola – if they could afford it and then twist his arm – and it would guarantee absolutely nothing. Gareth Southgate, meanwhile, fell into the job eight years ago and took us to our first major tournament finals since 1966. His club pedigree, with Middlesbrough, was limited to say the least.
Lee Carsley claimed the next England manager should be 'world class' and have won trophies
But coaching at international level is a completely different business than club management, as England found out through eight hugely successful years under Gareth Southgate
Lionel Scaloni won the World Cup with Argentina despite little managerial success beforehand
But if it is an oven-ready English manager that the FA would like to succeed Southgate on a permanent basis. then who do we blame for the fact there isn’t one available that fits the criteria laid out by Carsley when he spoke after his team beat Finland in Helsinki on Sunday night?
It’s easy to look at St George’s Park and ask questions of the system. The national HQ has been open for 12 years. Are we producing young English coaches of note? Arguably we are and Carsley could creditably number himself among them, having taken the Under 21s to European Championship success in 2023.
What we are proving less capable of as a footballing nation is giving our managers the jobs that they need to build on their skills and foundations. All coaches need a platform and in England we continue to be strangely reluctant to give them to one of our own.
In the Premier League there are currently only four British managers who were appointed by clubs when they were already in the top division.
Eddie Howe at Newcastle (they offered it to Unai Emery before him), Sean Dyche at Everton (after a fan revolt followed a move to appoint Portuguese coach Vitor Pereira), Steve Cooper at Leicester and Gary O’Neil at Wolves.
Luis de la Fuente also led Spain to Euro 2024 after an unsuccessful time in club management
Pep Guardiola could be the answer but his incredible pedigree guarantees absolutely nothing
By and large in the modern day, if a domestic coach wishes to work in the Premier League, he has to take a club there himself. Howe did it at Bournemouth, Dyche did it at Burnley, Cooper at Nottingham Forest and now Russell Martin at Southampton and Kieran McKenna at Ipswich.
The last homegrown appointments made by what we may describe as 'big' Premier League clubs were Frank Lampard and Graham Potter at Chelsea in 2019 and 2022, David Moyes at Manchester United in 2013 and Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool in 2012. So, that’s two in the last 10 years and, as we know, Potter was given all of seven months to make his spell work. Moyes didn’t get much longer at United and they then went from Louis van Gaal to Jose Mourinho in search of a fix that continues to elude them to this day.
English football at the highest level continues to be consumed by a snobbery that can take the breath away. It exists in boardrooms and ownership circles just as it exists in the stands on a matchday and in the written and broadcast media.
The belittling of Potter since his sacking by Chelsea, for example, has been extraordinary. His record through the ranks before taking the job was impressive and we are fully aware of the chaos that engulfed his time at Chelsea. Mauricio Pochettino couldn’t make it work at the basket-case club, either, but to many Potter’s struggles at Stamford Bridge continue to exist as proof that he is a small-time manager who belongs in a small-time pool.
Potter would improve England and quickly. So would Howe. So would Cooper, So, frankly, would Rodgers. Instead, we sit and talk about Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel. Sometimes, in sport, we get exactly what we deserve.
International coaching is a unique calling. It’s about picking squads, creating environments and then being able to pick smart teams and make in-game calls that can edge a tight game your way. Some of the best have come from the most peculiar of backgrounds.
Carsley arguably has the pedigree he refers to after winning the Under 21 Euros in 2023
There are plenty of top class English coaches like Graham Potter (left) and Eddie Howe (right), but we continue to be strangely reluctant to give them the opportunities that they need
But if we really want to form a queue of English candidates from the Premier League in the future then we all have to do better.
Luton manager Rob Edwards won all kinds of praise last season for his work at the Bedfordshire club. Nobody offered him a job once they got relegated, though. He is still there.
And what of the last British manager to win a European trophy? They enjoyed what David Moyes did for West Ham on that night in Prague in June 2023. They look back on the Europa Conference League triumph with pride.
They still ran Moyes out of town soon after, though. Then they gave his job to a Spaniard who hadn’t previously done a very good job at Wolves.