England under-21s coach Lee Carsley favourite for Republic of Ireland job

The English Football Association has received no approach yet from its Irish counterpart for the European championship-winning England Under-21 coach Lee Carsley – although he is now favourite to be the next manager of the senior men’s Republic of Ireland team.

It is understood that Carsley is the choice of the Football Association of Ireland [FAI] to take up the role which is currently vacant following the departure of Stephen Kenny in November. The FAI is in what it says is a process to appoint the head coach who, with a four-year contract on offer, the governing body hopes will lead the Irish at what will be a home European championships in 2028, shared with England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In the meantime, there is also qualification for the 2026 World Cup finals. The appointment of the next Irish manager is crucial given Ireland’s recent tournament history. The team has failed in the last two Euro qualification campaigns, including for the forthcoming Euro this summer in Germany, and has not reached the last five World Cup finals.

The FAI is now run by chief executive Jonathan Hill, formerly a commercial officer at the English FA. The director of football is Marc Canham, previously at the Premier League. They have led the appointment process with Packie Bonner, the famous former Ireland goalkeeper.

Carsley, 49, was born in the West Midlands but eligible through his grandparents to represent the Republic of Ireland, whom he played for 40 times as a senior international. Last summer he led the England Under-21s to their first European title since 1984, with the team winning the competition without conceding a goal.

Carsley has been considered for jobs before, including the vacancy at his former club Birmingham City before Tony Mowbray succeeded Wayne Rooney. Carsley has been at the English FA since 2020 and took the Under-21s job after Covid. It has not been as well-paid a role as it was under his predecessors Aidy Boothroyd and Gareth Southgate which has been a source of frustration especially given Carsley’s success.

There have been reports in the Irish media that the new head coach will command a salary of €560,000 [£477,500]. It is unlikely the English FA will stand in the way of Carsley, although executives meeting at Wembley today indicated they were unaware of any official approach yet from the FAI.

Carsley had built a solid career in development coaching at Brentford and Manchester City. He had a spell in 2017 at Birmingham as the Under-23s coach including a period as caretaker of the senior team when then manager Harry Redknapp was sacked. He was well thought of in the game even before last summer when England Under-21s team stormed to the final against Spain and finally won a competition that eluded the FA for generations.

Carsley earned praise for his handling of a talented generation of players, including the likes of Anthony Gordon, Curtis Jones and Morgan Gibbs-White. While they were undoubtedly a strong group of players, England have had similar talents before and failed to make any impression on the competition.