Roy Keane weighs in on Lee Carsley anthem-gate as some slam England interim boss over God Save the King stance
In the build-up to England's Nations League clash with Ireland, Carsley stated that he would not sing 'God Save the King'
Lee Carsley has incredibly found himself on the receiving end of criticism from sections of the English media before his England side have even kicked a ball under him.
In the build-up to England's Nations League clash with Ireland, Carsley stated that he would not sing 'God Save the King'.
“This is something that I always struggled with when I was playing for Ireland,” Birmingham-born Carsley said of anthems.
READ MORE: Why England boss Lee Carsley will NOT sing God Save the King national anthem in Dublin
READ MORE: Lee Carsley's 'selfish' stance on Roy Keane's Ireland World Cup meltdown
“The gap between your warm-up, your coming on to the pitch and the delay with the anthems. So it’s something that I have never done.
“I was always really focused on the game and my first actions of the game. I really found that in that period I was wary about my mind wandering off.
“I was really focused on the football and I have taken that in to coaching.
“We had the national anthem with the Under-21s also and I am in a zone at that point.
“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. It’s something I am really respectful of.”
Roy Keane was on punditry duty for ITV for Saturday's clash at the Aviva Stadium and said on Carsley not singing the anthem: "It's quite a welcome to the reality of being the manager of England. He's obviously coached a lot at underage level and done very well, but now this is senior level and particularly with England there's huge pressure, huge demands.
"Yeah, maybe it's an introduction to the demands he's going to face, but I think it is obviously unfair, of course it is, but that's the industry we're in. You know silly headlines, talking about people losing their jobs because they don't sing the national anthem.
"I played with Lee with Ireland. He never sung it then and it was never an issue for anybody else."
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