THE NOTEBOOK: LEE CARSLEY ALMOST SWITCHES ALLEGIANCES BEFORE KICK-OFF, A PRIME MINISTERIAL MOTORCADE DELAYS JOURNALISTS... AND THE 'SNAKES' RETURN TO IRELAND AS ENGLAND GET NATIONS LEAGUE CAMPAIGN OFF TO A FLYING START

England beat Republic of Ireland 2-0 in Lee Carsley's first game as interim boss
Some journalists found themselves delayed by Sir Kier Starmer's motorcade
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Lee Carsley's tenure as England interim manager got off to a winning start with a 2-0 victory away to the Republic of Ireland in the Nations League.

Goals from Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, who both previously represented Ireland at various levels, proved to be the difference between the two sides.

Here, Mail Sport's Craig Hope runs through some of the things you may have missed from the game at the Aviva Stadium.

VVIP holds journalists hostage

A group of us reporters were cutting it fine to make kick-off - and that was because we were locked in the press room to allow for Sir Keir Starmer’s motorcade to safely deposit the prime minister at the entrance reserved for dignitaries (no, we use the next door down).

He did sing the national anthem, by the way.

Carsley's almost caught out

Lee Carsley cannot catch a break. The interim boss emerged from the tunnel before kick-off and duly took his place in the dugout - the Ireland dugout, that is. He was soon told of his misstep, with the whole episode captured on camera.

As Carsley has learnt in just 24 hours, there is whole new level of scrutiny being the England boss.

An unwanted 12th man

England might have started with 12 men, after a fully-kitted fan ran onto the pitch and joined the line-up before kick-off.

Security spotted the intruder and he was led away, much to his annoyance. He genuinely thought he could do a job out there.

Frosty welcome for returning defectors

I used to cover Republic of Ireland for Mail Sport in the days when Martin O’Neill was manager. They were good days, too.

So when I walked back into the Aviva Stadium, one of my old Irish comrades was quick to liken me to Declan Rice.

That was a joke (I think) but the treatment handed out to Rice by the locals was not so friendly, including a banner carrying his and Jack Grealish’s pictures with the slogan, ‘The snakes are back’.

2024-09-07T18:17:31Z dg43tfdfdgfd