Why England interim boss Lee Carsley doesn't need to sing the national anthem

Lee Carsley ended up being introduced to the extreme scrutiny that comes with the England manager’s job before he’d even taken charge of a game. Every decision a coach makes is pored over with the finest toothcomb when they’re sat in that dugout (at least, once they eventually sit in the right one), from selections to tactics down to whether or not they sing the national anthem. No matter how much England’s culture warriors beg that politics be kept out of football, they just can’t stop themselves from inserting it.

A few months back, it was the tedious argument over the tiny, fractionally-redesigned flag on the nape of the players’ necks. Now, it’s the anthem, or rather its absence, that has sparked a ‘debate’, if that’s a valid word to describe people shouting their opinion at each other over social media.

Carsley, who was born in Birmingham but represented the Republic of Ireland 40 times during his playing career, can reasonably claim to be a national of both countries that were represented in Dublin on Saturday, but the fact that peoples’ cultural identities can be nuanced seems to have been lost on many people who found themselves foaming at the mouth because he chose not to sing God Save The King ahead of kick-off. Had he sung the anthem, he would likely have angered the Irish equivalents of the same people who were infuriated by his silence. It was a lose-lose situation, and he had to make the choice that was right for him.

Not that you’d think he had a choice, based on the angry backlash. The back page of The Daily Telegraph called for Carsley to be sacked for refusing to sing the anthem – not that anyone seemed quite so bothered when Fabio Capello chose not to sing it (it would have been “wrong” in his opinion), or when Gary Neville refused to do so before each of his 85 caps, or when Wayne Rooney did the same in the earlier phase of his illustrious England career. This isn’t a debate, it’s just another shouting match in an era in which that has become the dominant form of political and cultural discourse.

Rage is all the rage, these days. Newspapers and online media merchants peddle it. When the blood boils, the engagement flows. Never mind whether or not it’s something which anybody really cared about before the ‘culture wars’ started in earnest, compliance with an arbitrarily-determined cultural norm is now a requisite and deviation begets pitchforks. It’s childish, reductive, and it’s hard to see who benefits from any of these arguments save for the people cashing in on all the clicks. Nobody raging at Carsley has explained how the world would be better if he had sung the anthem.

Those angry with Carsley aren’t necessarily in a minority, by any means. A 2014 poll by YouGov found that 64% of the British public thought that England players should “have to” sing the anthem ahead of matches, even though 26% of respondents didn’t know the words to the first verse (a further 5% didn’t know whether or not they knew them, which rather implies a more definite answer). Plenty of people view it as a patriotic duty, even though plenty of them don’t sing it themselves. The equation, however, is that England’s football players represent the country and are therefore required to ‘lead by example’ in some way.

But what, exactly, does a player or a coach prove by singing the anthem, other than the fact that they’re in the 69% of people who actually know it? If it’s an obligation, does it really demonstrate pride or obeisance to the monarch, or just a willingness to go through the motions to avoid controversy? Does it impact their performance? It didn’t stop Neville or Rooney from becoming heroes of the national team, after all. It’s that question again - while there’s no harm in singing the anthem, what does singing it actually achieve?

When Carsley and his players head out onto the pitch, they are representing England. But do they represent their country and its people better by mumbling along to a song which asks a god they may not even believe in to help Charles III out? Or by winning football matches and playing well? Surely, it’s the latter that provides more pride and joy to the citizens of the country. And if there’s one thing that can be all but guaranteed – if England win the World Cup in 2026 with Carsley at the helm, absolutely nobody will be talking about whether or not he sings the anthem.

What actually mattered was what we saw on the pitch, which was an England side set up to play confident, attacking football, with a squad packed with young players who could be greats of the future – organised by a manager who didn’t let his opinion on the national anthem prevent him from doing everything possible to win and to bring a smile to the people in Three Lions replica kits up and down the country.

He may not be a traditional English patriot, and nor should anyone of sound mind expect him to be given his heritage and experience of a life which has bridged a national divide which has a lot of unsavoury history in it, but he is a professional and will do his best to make the football team as good as it can be. That should be enough when it comes to judgement of his character – and he should certainly only be sacked if he can’t win football matches. That is the only professional responsibility he has, to the King or anyone else.