Is England really entering a new era?

Lee Carsley couldn’t have said it more clearly: “I definitely don’t see this as a new beginning.”

At his first pre-match press conference as England's caretaker manager in a hotel outside Dublin, Carsley was keen to portray his job as a continuation of Gareth Southgate's work rather than his successor.

He spoke about how in football, an interim coach often comes in when the team in question is in crisis, is struggling in the league table or lacks confidence. But taking over an English team that had reached the final of the European Championships two years in a row was “the exact opposite”.

“I don't see this as a fresh start,” Carsley said ahead of England's first group game of the 2024-25 Nations League against the Republic of Ireland on Saturday evening. “This is a chance to build on what they have done in the past.”

And yet it is impossible to avoid a feeling of newness in Ireland, a feeling that something completely new has happened at this England training camp, that it is a blank slate. Not least because Carsley is answering questions from the media and preparing the team. The last time England's senior team was coached by anyone other than Southgate was the only game that Sam Allardyce took charge of, eight years ago this week.

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England's last game, the 2024 Euro final against Spain, may have been less than eight weeks ago, but it feels like it took place in a completely different time.

If they had won, we would all still be talking about it, the heroes of Berlin, the open-top bus parade, the parties, the knighthoods and so on. Perhaps that night's victory would even have persuaded Southgate to extend his contract and lead the team to the 2026 World Cup. But we all know what happened instead: England were outplayed and lost. Southgate resigned. And last month the job was handed to Carsley, the manager of the England Under-21s, whose team beat the Spanish in the 2026 final. her Euro 14 months ago, on an interim basis.

Carsley has former England left-back Ashley Cole on his coaching staff (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

So things felt very different since Carsley sat in Southgate's old ground at St George's Park in England just over a week ago to announce his squad.

One of the many challenges Carsley faces is how to balance these conflicting impulses for continuity and change. He has spoken very respectfully of Southgate's work, building on his almost eight years in charge and the two finals he has led England to. He would not get very far if he came in and said he wanted to overturn everything and start again.

But Carsley also wants to develop the team further.

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Angel Gomes, the midfielder for French club Lille who came through Manchester United's academy, revealed this week how Carsley had told players that England teams had “represented the country in the best possible way” in recent years but that now was the time to build on that “and take the next step towards winning tournaments”.

Carsley, the 50-year-old English-born former Republic of Ireland midfielder, will be his own man. He won't be bringing back Southgate's 2018 World Cup vest any time soon.

The feeling of freshness is reinforced by the composition of the England squad. There are nine players here in Dublin who were not in Germany in June and July. Three of them – Nick Pope, Jack Grealish and Harry Maguire – are experienced players who played a lot in the old regime. Rico Lewis and Levi Colwill have each won one cap. The other four – Gomes, Tino Livramento, Morgan Gibbs-White and Noni Madueke – have yet to win an international cap.

While Carsley said on Friday he considered Southgate's Euro 2024 campaign a success, he acknowledged others would see it differently. And in announcing that squad, he spoke of the importance of injecting energy into a group that may need a boost after what it has experienced at this tournament. “The squad may need that little injection of enthusiasm and energy,” Carsley said of Madueke, referring to the disappointment of fighting their way into that final only to lose it 2-1 to a late goal.

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The new generation in his selection changes the dynamic in other ways too. Remember, Gibbs-White, Gomes and Madueke were all part of the U21 team that won the European Championship last year under Carsley. And hearing Gibbs-White and Gomes talk about him this week made me realise how loyal they are to Carsley in particular.

Gibbs-White couldn't have been more positive about the man he calls “Cars.” “He's a great manager, tactically and in terms of people management he's great,” Gibbs-White said. “I was delighted when I found out he got the job because I felt he really deserved it. And I think it's a perfect fit.” He later described Carsley as “the perfect man for the job.”

So there will be many players in this squad for whom not only July 14 in Berlin, but the entire Southgate era was something they saw on television. Something they wanted to be a part of, but were never really able to. For them, the new era is now beginning.

Whether Carsley considers this a “new beginning” or not, we all know there is no new beginning. In every new era, there are always old questions to answer.

Carsley's inbox is full of unresolved issues from the Southgate era: Can an England team ever be good enough in possession against a top team? How do you get the best out of Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham simultaneously? Is there a plan B for attacking without Harry Kane? Can a new balance be found that builds on the organisation and structure of Gazball but offers more entertainment?

Gibbs-White has worked closely with Carsley at U21 level (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Whether Dublin ushers in a new era this weekend or not will only become clear in the next few months.

If the FA concludes that Carsley is the right man to lead England on the road to the next World Cup in two years' time, then everyone will look back on this game as the moment it all began. But if the FA decides, after careful consideration, to bring in an outside coach – and hire an Eddie Howe, Graham Potter or the like – then this game, and Tuesday's match against Finland at Wembley, will be a footnote in history.

But remember when England reacted to another Euro disappointment and another manager's resignation.

When Allardyce succeeded Roy Hodgson and coached the team for the first and last time – a 1-0 away win against Slovakia in the first World Cup qualifier of 2018 – everyone thought it was the start of a new phase that would take them at least to the finals in Russia. But Allardyce didn't even make it to the next international break. And when Southgate coached his first game a month later – at home to Malta after temporarily taking over the Under-21s – no one knew it would be the start of England's most successful tenure since Sir Alf Ramsey.

Carsley referred to that time in his press conference immediately after Euro 2016. He knows he has inherited a far better legacy than Allardyce or Southgate did eight years ago from the Hodgson era, which means it is a very different job.

“When Gareth took over the team, it wasn't that good in terms of quality,” said Carsley. “But now it's completely different in that respect. These players are used to competing. The standards are so high.”

“We talked a little bit about how you want to be remembered. They are so close. Hopefully they will go one step further. The hardest part is the final push.”