Lee Carsley has yet to get his picture on the wall at St George's Park. At England's base, there are framed photographs of every senior England manager, which line opposite sides of a corridor. All of them - from Walter Winterbottom to Sam Allardyce, who was in charge for only one game - are included.
Despite winning back-to-back European Championships with England Under-21s, however, the Young Lions boss is still absent. He even managed the senior side for six games after Gareth Southgate's departure. Yet Carsley is not concerned with personal accolades as he plots a treble with the under-21s.
Victories against Kazakhstan, at Wolves' Molineux Stadium on Friday, and Slovakia next week will book a spot at Euro 2027 - and keep Carsley and his players on course for history. England lifted successive trophies in 1982 and 1984 but then had to wait 39 years until Carsley's men won in Georgia and Romania in 2023, beating Spain in the final. Last summer's extra-time victory over Germany in Bratislava sealed their title defence, thanks to Jonathan Rowe's strike.
Winning the tournament three times in a row has only ever been done once before, by Italy in the 1990s, although never in the competition's current guise of 16 teams. Carsley is aware of the challenge ahead - but also the lasting impact more success could have. "The older you get, you want to leave a legacy, don't you?" He said, with England top of Group D and three points clear of Slovakia.
"There would have been an easy move, after the first win, to go and do club management and go and accept a few of the offers. "But I enjoy the job I'm doing and I enjoy that I'm part of a bigger quest to win a major tournament. I want to be part of the FA when we do that." Carsley also says he welcomes the pressure of attempting to do something no Young Lions team has done before.
"I think we have to embrace that," said the former Everton and Derby midfielder. "They come to play for the under-21s, you're back-to-back champions. There's a bullseye that goes with that.
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