Lee Carsley says he has not officially applied to be England coach

Lee Carsley has revealed he has not formally applied for the position as England’s next manager following Gareth Southgate’s resignation.

The Football Association (FA) applied for a new coach on July 19th. The application deadline ended on August 2nd. Carsley, 50, was appointed interim coach a week later and is expected to make his fourth game as coach in the Nations League against Finland on Sunday.

But before the game, Carsley admitted he hadn’t even applied for the job during the two-week application period. Asked by talkSPORT if he had submitted an application, Carsley said: “No, I haven’t applied for it.”

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When asked why he had not done so, Carsley reiterated that the FA had asked him to take over and that he was happy with his old role as coach of the England under-21 team.

“I played for the U21s and I’m really happy with my work,” said Carsley. “I am an employee of the FA and have been asked to join the senior team, which is a privilege. It was the proudest moment of my career. I think the coach who comes has a really good chance of winning and we deserve the best there is.”

Carsley this week pushed back against the assumption that he would automatically get the top job. “I don’t see this as an audition at all. I see it as simply that I was asked to take the team with me for three camps, it was not with the intention of achieving anything. In the truest sense of the word, it was: Do your best, try as hard as you can and take care of the players. And that’s what I do.”

The admission casts further doubt on whether Carsley actually wants to be Southgate’s permanent replacement, as he said on Thursday evening that he would “hopefully” return to the under-21 job.

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At his pre-match press conference on Saturday evening, Carsley was asked to clarify these comments and he said that “the plan” was for him to take part in the September, October and November internationals, but did not elaborate.

“‘Hopefully’ is a word and phrase that I use quite a bit,” Carsley said, defending his use of the adverb. “There are obviously no guarantees in life, not even tomorrow. It’s a job I’m really proud of, the U21. A job that I am massively invested in. But I know there are no guarantees.

“The plan is the same: give this job to the three camps as best I can, along with the rest of the staff. And hopefully we can be in a good position.”

England currently sit second in Group 2 of Nations League League B with six points from their first three games – three points behind group leaders Greece, who beat them 2-1 at Wembley on Thursday.

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(Carl Recine/Getty Images)