It's not the singing, it's the noise around England that holds them back.

Plus what's it like to be a ghost.

The real problem with the vilification of Lee Carsley for not singing God Save The King is not so much the substance of the debate – people have views either way -  but the noise it generates and grief it brings. The history of England highlights that good candidates like Guus Hiddink and Luiz Felipe Scolari walked away from the interviewing process simply because of the circus and critiquing.

Lee Carsley in Dublin. Photo: Alex Livesey - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images

Carsley has been given a six-game audition for the full-time England management role and an immediate crash course in why it’s called The Impossible Job. It’s so much more than a straightforward coaching job, immeasurably more complicated, scrutinised and challenging than his job successfully overseeing the Under-21s.

His choice of attire on match-day, his usual tracksuit, was examined as if he were heading to Paris Fashion Week. His pre-match routine, putting out the cones as usual, was slightly sniffily commented upon. Carsley’s not Gareth Southgate – we get it! – but the real criterion should be can he motivate and organise England’s players, get them in a balanced, attacking formation and positive mood, and steer them over the line in a major tournament? He did it with the Under-21s.

England showed enough cohesion, confidence and threat in Dublin on Saturday to prove that Carsley has the potential to do the footballing side of the job, albeit with a very large caveat that games are of two halves and the Irish were very limited. The ceremonial, ambassadorial, PR side to the England job does not come naturally to Carsley, who has an elegant act to follow in Southgate. But England’s greatest manager, Sir Alf Ramsey, hardly enjoyed the closest of relationships with the Press, admitting that he was a “remote” figure to them.

Carsley’s handed the furore well, but he did admit to taking himself off for a reflective walk on Saturday morning when the wave of abuse for not singing the Anthem broke over him. What he called the “proudest” moment of his working life was overshadowed by hectoring headlines. He patiently explained that he never sang the anthem as Under-21 head coach, and nobody said anything, or the Irish anthem when representing them on 40 occasions. At least the FA needn’t dread Ireland’s return visit on November 17 which coincides with Poppy commemorations at Wembley. Carsley is a keen Poppy wearer. The game is Carsley’s last scheduled match as caretaker.

Carsley appears the FA’s preferred choice but he now understands what comes with the job, that it’s far more than the 90 minutes. “Welcome to England” as Robbie Fowler smiled at Sven-Goran Eriksson when he first experienced headlines about off-field activities.

When an indiscretion too far in early 2006 meant Eriksson would step down after the ensuing World Cup in Germany, the FA pursued their regular nemesis Scolari as England manager on the basis if “you can’t beat them, sign them”. The family of the Portugal and former Brazil coach were also pursued. His wife was doorstepped in Lisbon, his children hounded at school, and told by class-mates their dad was a traitor.

Scolari himself was followed and questioned and his fuse, not the longest in football, burned quickly and he turned the job down. A few months later Big Phil showed England again what they were missing by knocking them out of the World Cup in Gelsenkirchen with Portugal, just as he had done at Euro 2004 with Portugal and the 2002 World Cup with Brazil.

Hiddink was also interested in becoming Eriksson’s successor until he looked at the frenzy around the appointment and discreetly withdrew. So that was two of the world’s most eminent coaches put off by the noise. It would be easy to say that if Hiddink and Scolari couldn’t handle the heat then England were better off without them in the kitchen. It would then be even easier to point out that the FA ended up with Steve McClaren in the kitchen and the room went up in flames. He proved a disaster to nobody’s huge surprise and melted spectacularly in the dug-out and in line of questioning. McClaren failed to qualify England for Euro 2008. Hiddink guided Russia to the semi-finals.

The hullabaloo over Carsley’s non-singing - and it was amusing to watch him popping throat lozenges during the game - will remind other potential candidates of the trouble that comes with the job. When Eddie Howe was linked with the England vacancy before Southgate got it in 2016, he was immediately pictured on the news pages of the papers for an innocuous parking offence. Howe handles the media well, and would be a strong choice should he want to leave the fine job he is doing in slightly testing circumstances at Newcastle United. The FA might also be playing a clever game with Carsley, having him as caretaker, seeing how he fares, while also knowing that Howe’s potential availability may be clearer in November.

At least Carsley knows where he stands with two newspapers taking a stance against him getting the job. What is also clear is that Carsley’s critics are largely of a generation which didn’t have so much dual-nationality. That’s all changed, especially in football, as Carsley himself reflects as a Birmingham-born former Ireland international.

Roughly 70 per cent of England age groups are dual-qualified, some even more, capturing some changes in society. Plenty of Carsley’s senior players could have played elsewhere, as Declan Rice indeed did. Notions of nationality are more fluid nowadays, especially in football. The focus should be on an individual’s commitment to the cause, and Carsley’s commitment to England cannot be questioned. He doesn’t need to make a song or dance about it.

**

Late on Sunday night, I finally finished the first draft of Duncan Ferguson’s autobiography which I’m ghost-writing. Still a few hoops to go through, edits, changes, and not least hoping he’s OK with it. I always thought I would never do another ghosting job having been so spoiled working with Sir Kenny Dalglish twice, Steven Gerrard, John Barnes, Michael Carrick, David Dein and David Davies, but I met Duncan for a coffee and an exploratory chat in the Titanic hotel in Liverpool last year and that was it, really. He had me hooked within a minute or two, because of his honesty and the stories about his remarkable life and career.

Ferguson’s very different to his hard-man on-field image, far more multi-layered. It was also a bit disconcerting hearing his voice as Ferguson’s tended to avoid speaking to the Press. So that’s what you sound like! It was part of the appeal of doing the book to me, to hear him telling for the first time the full story about his horrific incarceration in Barlinnie, his complicated relationship with Jim McLean at Dundee United, life at Rangers, his love affair with Everton Football Club and his time at Newcastle United. It’s much, much more than a football book. I had my own book called Obsession planned, which I’m starting on this week, and was more than happy to delay it having spoken to Ferguson.

As a ghost you can pick up signature phrases and mannerisms of your subject, and Duncan has certainly expanded my vocabulary, some words best left until after the watershed. One new favourite, “Bampot”, is almost onomatopoeic in its depiction of an unpleasant individual.

Dalglish began phone-calls in Spanish, so I learned some of that. Everything about Gerrard was about value. No minute was wasted. I asked for 20 hours of his time, and he gave 20 hours of total focus and insight, and changed only four things when I sent him the manuscript.

With Carrick, an incredibly meticulous individual, the manuscript went through eight drafts before he was happy. Carrick also has this habit of making sure books and magazines on his coffee table are all lined up parallel. During trips to his house, I noticed this and, childishly, surreptitiously nudged them out of right-angled order when he wasn’t looking. He spotted the change immediately and put them back. Carrick always was a very neat footballer. Eventually, I found myself unwittingly copying him, checking that the books and mags were flush with the table edge.

As well as the high-achiever and work ethic genes, they all share one particular trait. I’ve met all of them in public places, hotels, cafes, restaurants and golf clubs (Dalglish) and they are unfailingly polite when approached by fans. So they should be, of course, manners etc, but even when there’s regular interruptions they get up, smile, say a few words, do the selfie, and return to the book, the flow of their thoughts continuing.

Also thoughtful. When the Gerrard book was done, Stevie sent me one of his match-worn 2002 England shirts (the one with the red stripe down it). The grass and sweat stains, 100% guarantee of authenticity, were almost lost forever when it was briefly scooped up by a family member unaware of its heritage and taken towards the washing machine. It was saved in time, and still remains unwashed.

I had to run the Gerrard book past Liverpool as he was their captain at the time; even though there was some criticism of the club, Liverpool didn’t ask for anything to be changed apart from one date I’d got wrong. That showed their immense respect for Gerrard.

I did once lose a whole chapter of another book, when one of the subjects decided it was just too personal and it was removed before publication. It was a huge loss, not because of the hours I’d put in, but because of the emotion and insight it brought. But you obviously respect a family’s wishes. I took a hammer and smashed the small tape that contained the sensitive recording, not out of anger but to keep my word that it would never be used. Frustrating but it is their story.