Lee Carsley says he will not sing the English national anthem before his first match as interim England boss on Saturday.
Carsley was handed the reins after Gareth Southgate stepped down after the Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain.
His first match will be against the Republic of Ireland, a nation he represented 40 times as a player.
Birmingham-born Carsley says the Dublin clash will be a ‘proud moment for myself and my family’, but singing ‘God Save the King’ looks out of the question.
“This is something that I always struggled with when I was playing for Ireland,” Carsley said of anthems.
“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.”
talkSPORT understands that Jack Grealish is likely to start against Ireland on Saturday, despite not making the Euro 2024 squad.
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Morgan Gibbs-White is also likely to start, as is Harry Maguire and Levi Colwill.
Grealish is expected to get a hostile reception along with Declan Rice in Dublin.
Rice won three senior caps for the Republic before switching allegiance to England, shortly after Grealish did the same having represented Ireland up until under-21 level.
Asked if he has any concerns about playing them at the Aviva Stadium, interim boss Carsley said: “No, not all.
“We spoke – not only (to) Jack and Declan, to the whole squad – we spoke about the atmosphere we expect it to be.
“Exciting, passionate, loud, but it’ll be no different to what the players are used to in Premier League games or high level games. I think they’ll be ready for whatever comes out.”
Quizzed on what reception he expects back in Ireland, the interim England boss said: “I’m not sure, to be honest. Probably the same.
“But if the reception that we had off the kids outside (the hotel) was anything to go by it will be very positive.”
Listen to coverage of Ireland vs England live on talkSPORT on Saturday.
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