Shay Given has nailed his colours to the mast as to who would be the ‘perfect fit’ for the vacant Republic of Ireland manager’s job.
The Lifford man believes Lee Carsley ticks all the boxes to follow in the footsteps of Stephen Kenny.
Speaking on RTÉ Sport’s Champions League programme last night, Given said that based on the criteria that chief executive, Jonathan Hill, set out regarding the role that the new head coach would perform, his former international team-mate is the man.
Carsley played his football with a number of teams including Everton.
But since hanging up his boots, he has since gone on to guide the England Under-21s to European Championships’ success in his role as head coach.
“Hearing the words ‘head coach’, it struck me, as someone who has been through the system before, the obvious one would be Lee Carsley, who has been through the system with the English FA,” said Given.
“He is the head coach of the England Under-21s and had a brilliant tournament during the summer, they won the tournament.
“I know Lee well from playing with Ireland as well so he has that strong connection with the country, so if that is the word that is coming out of the FA, it strikes me that he would be the perfect fit.
Lee Carsley
“It sounds like they may have had a conversation already with Lee, so when you say head coach, and work with all the underage teams and do all this kind of stuff, if you were to put all that into a pot, then Lee Carsley would be the obvious candidate in my opinion.”
Given went on to offer some insight into the type of coach that Carsley has become and the attributes that the 40-cap midfielder would bring to the Ireland job, stating that he is a great man-manager who players really want to play for.
“I know Joleon Lescott from my time playing at Manchester City. He was a coach with him [Carsley]) at the 21s, and I said to him ‘what does he bring to the party?’
“He said he is unbelievable with the lads, his attention to detail is second to none, and he said that the lads just want to play for him, they want to run through brick walls for him, and that his man management, he has not seen before.
“So he brings all that to the party as well, if you listen to people who have worked closely with him and seen what he has done, and he has been successful as well, so he ticks a lot of boxes.”
