Carsley: Irish call won’t come now

LEE CARSLEY has conceded that his international career is effectively over.

The Birmingham City midfielder, who earned the last of his 39 caps against Brazil in 2008, has never featured under Giovanni Trapattoni and, at 36 years of age, doesn’t expect the phone to ring now.

“I have had some great times with the Ireland team,” he says, “and I was proud of every single cap I’ve won but I think international football is finished for me.”

Carsley, who has been out of action with an ankle injury since January, says he doesn’t see the point of officially announcing his retirement from international football.

“I don’t want to make a big deal out of it,” he says. “If I come out and say that I am quitting the team for definite, people might say, ‘what’s he talking about, he hasn’t played for Ireland for two years, was he not retired already?’ “So I don’t want to seem like a big shot.

“I have said all along, even in the last two years when I wasn’t making the squads, that if the call came from Ireland I would be there like a shot.

“But that call never came and it’s not likely to now. The manager is building a new team with younger players and it’s just such a pity the team didn’t make the World Cup.”

Carsley, currently working his way back to full fitness, will leave Birmingham City at the end of this season but says he hopes to stay in the game as a player and then as a coach.

Meanwhile, Giovanni Trapattoni has admitted that he only reluctantly turned down an approach to manage Juventus earlier this year. While the Ireland manager had previously revealed that he’d been sounded out by his old club, he has now told Italian television that he was sad not to be able take charge of the Turin side at least until the end of the season.

However, the 71-year-old explained that he felt his focus had to be 100% on the Irish job.

“With a heavy heart I turned it down because it was impossible for me to be involved in a national team and in club football,” Trapattoni said on the Chiambretti Night show, after being treated to a customary dance by scantily-clad dancers.

“It was not a serious option and it would not have been professional of me.”

The latest FIFA rankings show Ireland down five to 44 after their 2-0 friendly loss to Brazil. European Championship Group B opponents Slovakia are at 33 while top seeds Russia are unchanged at 12. And there’s no change at the very top either, with European champions Spain still ahead of Brazil and Holland in second and third places respectively.

Meanwhile Championship outfit West Brom have officially confirmed former Ireland net-minder Dean Kiely as the club’s new goalkeeping coach, while the 39-year-old has also signed a one-year extension to his playing contract.