ENGLAND interim manager Lee Carsley took a seat in the WRONG dugout in Dublin.
The Three Lions face Ireland for the first time in four years at the Aviva Stadium in the Nations League.
But Carsley’s tenure as England manager got off to an embarrassing start after he accidentally got himself comfortable in the Irish dugout.
The 50-year-old then was then told of his gaffe by an official, and jumped off Heimir Hallgrimsson’s seat to head over to the England bench.
Carsley saw the funny side of things as he was ushered away from the home dugout.
The comical blunder comes after Carsley made 40 senior caps for the Republic of Ireland across 11 years.
The former Everton midfielder regained his composure, meanwhile, for the start of the national anthems.
Before kick-off, Carsley boldly claimed that he would NOT sing “God Save the King” after representing the Boys in Green during his career.
The ex-England U21 boss said: “This singing the anthem is something that I always struggled with when I was playing for Ireland.”
It sparked a row as critics pointed out that predecessor Gareth Southgate always belted out the anthem before matches.
But Carsley countered by revealing he never sang the Irish anthem before games as a player either.
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He was born in Birmingham and had hopes of playing for England before accepting a call-up to Ireland’s U21s in 1995 through his Irish grandmother.
England stars Declan Rice and Jack Grealish were welcomed with an extremely hostile reaction by booing Ireland fans.
Supporters inside the Aviva Stadium held a banner with: “The snakes are back.”
Both Rice and Grealish represented Ireland to varying degrees before switching their national allegiances.
In a hilarious turn of events, Rice then opening the scoring with a blistering shot from 12 yards inside 11 minutes – but refused to celebrate.
And to make matters worse for Irish fans, Grealish then doubled England’s lead with a lovely finish in the 26th minute, before running and jumping to celebrate in front of the away end with swagger.
The two even assisted each others goals.
The Nations League opener marked the start of a new era just 55 days after England lost a second successive Euros final.
Southgate called time on his eight-year reign after the narrow loss to Spain, with Carsley promoted to caretaker senior boss as the FA considers its next steps.
Ireland host the Three Lions for the first time in four years.
