England interim manager Lee Carsley axes Gareth Southgate’s long-serving analysts

The new boss is preparing his backroom staff ahead of England’s Nations League matches in September

Lee Carsley has axed two of Gareth Southgate’s leading analysts as he prepares for his first match as England manager. (Action Images via Reuters)

England interim manager Lee Carsley is shaping his backroom staff ahead of his first match in charge of the national side and has let go two of Gareth Southgate’s long-serving analysts.

Mike Baker and Stephen O’Brien were the lead performance analysts under former England boss Southgate but will not have a role in the next senior men’s camp as Carsley has promoted Under-21s analyst James Ryder to work alongside him.

Baker and O’Brien, who are both employed full-time with the Football Association, will not lose their jobs in the analyst department but they are now excluded from the England’s manager’s close circle following eight years working under Southgate.

The analyst department is led by Rhys Long and is responsible for working with the manager on game plans. They create and compile clips of all the games of every player in the senior squad and junior teams. It is a crucial and time-consuming role which provides valuable insight for the manger.

Carsley has also made further personnel changes with Under-21s goalkeeping coach Tim Dittmer moving up to the senior team and former England internationals, Ashley Cole and Joleon Lescott, working as assistants to the new England boss. The short-term contracts of Southgate’s coaches Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Paul Nevin are not expected to be renewed.

Carsley is being given the full support of the FA, despite being appointed on a temporary basis, with his triumph in the Under-21s Championship in Georgia last summer seen as proof of his and his team’s capabilities.

His first match in charge is a Nations League game against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on September 7th followed by a clash with Finland in the same competition at Wembley three days later.