Carsley's 'vital role' leaves City return unlikely

The chances of Lee Carsley returning to Coventry City as head coach appear to have diminished after the FA indicated he'll be staying with England's Under-21s.

The former Sky Blues midfielder ended his interim spell in charge of England with a fifth win in six games on Sunday evening, thrashing the Republic of Ireland 5-0 at Wembley.

While Thomas Tuchel set to take over the national team, FA CEO Mark Bullingham said Carsley still has a ‘vital role’ to play in developing talent for the senior squad.

"Lee will now return to the Under-21s and will continue to play a vital role supporting the seniors by developing England’s best young players,” he said.

"His leadership and coaching gives us the best possible chance of back-to-back U21 Euro wins next summer, and he will continue to play a big part in elite football development across the FA."

Frank Lampard is the heavy odds-on favourite with bookmakers to replace Mark Robins with Coventry owner Doug King confirming the former Chelsea and Derby boss has submitted his CV, while one-time Sky Blues striker Robbie Keane is a distant second in the betting.

Carsley was a development coach at Coventry early in his career and actually took over as caretaker first-team Sky Blues boss in February 2013 following Robins' departure to Huddersfield, although he left for Sheffield United that summer.