Lee Carsley ‘has every right to not sing anthem’, says campaign group

A campaign group has called for the UK to select a new national anthem after England manager Lee Carsley said he would not sing ‘God Save the King’ before his side’s Nations League game against the Republic of Ireland on Saturday.

The match in Dublin will be Birmingham-born Carsley’s first since taking interim charge of the team and comes against the country he represented 40 times as a player.

Speaking on Friday, he hinted that he would not join in for the playing of the anthem at the Aviva Stadium, saying: “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.”

Some critics have gone as far as suggesting Carsley should be sacked if he refuses to sing ‘God Save the King’ in Dublin.

However, campaign group Republic, which wants the monarchy abolished and replaced by an elected head of state, said the resulting furore over the 50-year-old’s admission is evidence the UK needs to ditch the current national anthem.

In a statement the group said: “Carsley has every right to not sing the anthem. But this is a timely reminder that we need a new anthem, one that speaks for everyone, that is about country and the people, not king and god.

“We are a free country and freedom of speech includes freedom not to revere a king.

“We should be able to raise the roof singing our national anthem, we should not be put in a position where that conflicts with profoundly held beliefs.

“Whatever Carsley’s reasons, he should have the support of every democrat and everyone concerned about freedom of speech.”

Carsley was appointed in August by the Football Association to lead the team against Ireland and during Tuesday’s meeting with Finland at Wembley, following the resignation of Gareth Southgate who stepped down in the days after England’s Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain.