‘I never saw Lee Carsley sing the national anthem’ and other priceless paper boy insights

I was Lee Carsley’s paperboy for a year while he was at Blackburn. This is everything I learned about the England manager incumbent…

First, some context. This was the 1999/2000 season when Rovers finished a disappointing 11th in the Championship following relegation from the Premier League the previous year.

Carsley had joined us midway through that doomed relegation battle along with Matt Jansen, Jason McAteer, Nathan Blake, Ashley Ward (for £4.5m, which funded Barnsley’s new stand, something they kept singing about when we played them at Oakwell) and Keith Gillespie in a mad scramble for survival.

Our demotion was confirmed with a 0-0 draw at home to former title rivals Manchester United. Fergie pretended he didn’t realise the result had relegated us, sprinkling a little extra salt in the wounds. Anyway, painful memories.

In 1999/2000, Carsley was our most consistent performer, top-scoring with 11 goals, eight of them from the penalty spot. It was my intention to equal, or ideally better, his 7/10 week-in/week-out efficiency in my paper-delivering duties.

And let’s have it right, I was a f***ing excellent paper boy.

When Matt Stanger was delivering, you got your paper on time, come rain or shine. Ripped edges? No sir. Not even with the giant Sunday broadsheets and all their many supplements. I’d carefully peel them apart, feeding each section through the letterbox with the cautious white-gloved hand of an archaeologist unearthing a long-lost religious artefact.

Did Carsley ever consider how well his papers were delivered? I like to think not. “If I have to make a tackle I’ve already committed a mistake,” Paolo Maldini once famously said. If Lee Carsley ever had to think about his paper landing on the mat, like the first flake of winter snow gently kissing earth’s soil, then I’d messed up. And I didn’t mess up.

If he had had to think about it, would he now be managing England? Possibly not. Another thing I like to think is that the small part of his brain that could otherwise have been preoccupied with where his newspaper was, he was able to dedicate to acquiring a tactical understanding that set him on the long journey to the England hot seat. Nobody can say I haven’t played my part.

MORE ON ENGLAND FROM F365:
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👉 Rogers replacing Kane? Predicting six England U21 stars to be in Carsley’s 2026 World Cup squad
👉 Southgate’s England errors exposed by Gordon, Grealish as Carsley clamour gathers momentum

‘But what else did a 13-year-old paperboy learn about the current national team manager some 25 years ago?’, I hear you ask, as the tumbleweed of international break blows by.

Well, here are some loose inferences…

Lee Carsley lived in a gated house in 1999
But what does this mean? Lots of people live in gated houses. They were big, fancy metal grills too. To my teenage self, this suggested wealth and perhaps an element of mystique (as in mystery, not the chart-topping female group of the same era which, had it turned out they lived with Lee Carsley at that time, would have been so, so, so scandalous (sorry)), but what are my reflections all these years later?

In hindsight it points to Carsley being a private person. He didn’t want some snot-nosed paperboy approaching his front door of a weekend morning asking for autographs. No, I would have to use the mailbox attached to the gates.

Carsley is clearly someone who keeps close counsel – someone who isn’t likely to disclose selection decisions outside of his inner circle – so expect there to be very few leaks from this England set-up. Lee Carsley will only open up those metaphorical gates to the people he trusts most.

Lee Carsley had a big husky
I was shit-scared of this dog. Even with the big metal gates between us, it could sense my fear as it barked its head off at me feeding supplement after supplement into the mailbox. Carsley even came out a couple of times to take it back inside. Did he wave at the hard-working paperboy as he did so? Not once. He didn’t have to, it was all part of the service.

Anyway, in a footballing sense this indicates – if you’ll afford me great licence – that Carsley will eventually opt for an imposing, dogged midfielder in the Conor Gallagher mould. He doesn’t just crave the security that a gated home provides, he wants a guard dog as well. So while Angel Gomes was given his chance to impress against Finland, it’s much more likely – based on this information gleaned by a paperboy 25 years ago – that Carsley will seek a more imposing presence in tougher matches as he looks for bark and bite in midfield.

Lee Carsley only had a Sunday delivery
Firstly, this indicates that there are no days off for Lee Carsley. Even on a Sunday he’s thinking about football. He’s poring through the match reports, searching for that one detail in Walsall 0 Port Vale 0 that might aid his endeavours as England manager 25 years later.

It also suggests that he might actually care what the papers say, which he hinted at in his post-match interview after the Finland game when he admitted that he’s been somewhat out of his comfort zone these past couple of weeks. Makes you think.

I never saw Lee Carsley sing the national anthem
There’s been some absolute bollocks written about this, but let me confirm: I never once saw Lee Carsley singing the national anthem in all my weeks as his paperboy. Which, if anything, should serve to reinforce the consistency of his position on the matter, despite recent aspersions.

Lee Carsley didn’t do Christmas tips
“It’s like praising the postman for delivering your letters,” Roy Keane once memorably said about Sir Alex Ferguson praising his performances. “It’s his job!”

Lee Carsley is clearly cut from the same cloth as his former Republic of Ireland teammate. Would I have enjoyed a big Christmas tip from Blackburn Rovers’ star player at the time? Of course I would. But Carsley was setting a level expectation, one I assume he’s carried into the England dressing room.

It was my job to deliver that Sunday newspaper, whatever the weather, no matter how much his dog terrified me. And I was already being paid £10 a week for the privilege, so asking for anything more would have been taking liberties.

So there we have it, folks – the most useful information you’ve no doubt read so far about what to expect from the Carsball era.

Some fascinating tidbits to share in your WhatsApp groups that will make you appear like a football scholar who’s got the real down-low on Carsley, and his psyche, to your mates.

Thank me? Worry not. It’s my job.

MORE ON ENGLAND FROM F365:
👉 The famous F365 England ladder ventures uncertainly into the 2026 World Cup unknown with Carsley
👉 Rogers replacing Kane? Predicting six England U21 stars to be in Carsley’s 2026 World Cup squad
👉 Southgate’s England errors exposed by Gordon, Grealish as Carsley clamour gathers momentum