Why does England manager Lee Carsley not sing national anthems?

LEE CARSLEY will not sing God Save The King today when he takes charge of England for the first time against Ireland.

Carsley made 40 appearances for Ireland as a player and takes the reins with the Three Lions senior squad after huge success with the England Under-21s, guiding them to European Under-21 Championship last year.

The 50-year-old has taken over from Gareth Southgate initially on an interim basis for the games against Ireland and Finland in the Nations League.

Ireland are first up this afternoon in Dublin before a home clash against Finland at Wembley on Tuesday night.

Southgate stepped down as England manager in July after steering the Three Lions to successive finals in European Championships.

Like Southgate, Carsley has been promoted up by the FA from the Under-21s to take charge of the national team.

Why does Lee Carsley not sing national anthems?

Lee Carsely will not sing the national anthem today as he has never sung them in his career.

The midfielder was born in Birmingham but made 40 appearances for Ireland as a player after qualifying through his grandmother, who was from Cork.

Carsley did not sing the Irish anthem before playing for them nor the British anthem when managing the England Under 21s.

The 50-year-old has said that he is too focused on the task at hand in his pre-match ritual when national anthems are rung out in the stadium.

Carsley said: “This is something that I always struggled with when I was playing for Ireland.

“I am thinking about how the opposition are going to set up and our first actions within the game.

“I fully respect both anthems and understand how much they mean to both countries.”