Miguel Delaney: Brawls, boos and 'plastic Paddys': How the Irish and English football teams became eternally linked

Former Ireland manager Jack Charlton and current England interim manager Lee Carsley. Photo: Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile and PA Media

For some in the Irish squad, it is still strange to be preparing for a game against Lee Carsley’s England. Ireland have gone to great lengths to sign the admired manager, who has 40 caps for the national team. A solid Irish midfielder is now the most important figure in English football culture, and he will have a tricolour to his name if he leads England to the World Cup.

Carsley was born in Birmingham but qualified for Ireland through his grandmother from Cork. He said last week that he naturally felt binational. The same is true of many of the players who will play in Dublin on Saturday, including Declan Rice and Jack Grealish, who represent at least nine regular England players in the last five years who could also have represented Ireland. It is almost an inevitable reversal of the history of this game, when it was Ireland that benefited most from the country’s diaspora in Britain.