Howe has sought refuge in evasion and silence – OLIVER HOLT

The scrutiny that barrels its way in the direction of the manager of the England men’s football team was visited upon Lee Carsley at the weekend when he found himself at the centre of the impassioned debate about whether it mattered if he sang the national anthem before a game.

For many of us who love sport, the heroes of football are deeper symbols of meaning than a prime minister or a monarch. In January last year, I queued happily for hours in the heat of the day in Brazil to pay my respects to Pele before his funeral in Santos, a rite I had never observed before.

When it comes to the England manager, many say all that should matter is whether he gets results, although the continuing desire to pour scorn on Gareth Southgate for reaching successive finals of the European Championship and three semi-finals in the last four major tournaments rather gives the lie to that assertion.

The truth is that many of us, either sub-consciously or overtly, increasingly hope that our own views about politics, society and the world, as well as football, will be reflected in the stances taken by the figurehead of our national game.

Southgate was the most successful England manager since Sir Alf Ramsey but he stood for tolerance and a social conscience in addition to his achievements on the pitch and so he remains a deeply divisive figure. Carsley’s decision not to sing the anthem has polarised opinions around him, too.

I like Carsley, both from the limited personal dealings I had with him many years ago when he was playing for Everton, and also because everything he has achieved in the game so far suggests that he is an intelligent, thoughtful and effective coach with the strength of character to be his own man. 

I hope that he is given the England job on a permanent basis.

But nor am I immune from foisting wider considerations on the candidates to be Southgate’s long-term successor. Eddie Howe is the second favourite, behind Carsley, to be the next England boss and, in purely football terms, he deserves to be a contender.

He has done an exceptional job as Newcastle United manager. His recruitment of new players has been superb and his coaching has been brilliant. It would be a significant blow to the club if he were to leave, either to take the England job or because of the internal tensions that seem to be rising all the time on Tyneside.

But we all have our red lines for candidates. Howe has also chosen to work for a nation-state, Saudi Arabia, that owns Newcastle through the vehicle of its Public Investment Fund, a regime which murders journalists in cold blood, treats women as second-class citizens, persecutes minorities, outlaws same-sex relationships and which carries out executions on an industrial scale.

Despite repeated entreaties, Howe has never expressed any reservations about the actions of his employers.

In fact, he appears to have taken a vow of silence about Saudi Arabia’s appalling record of human rights violations. Which is not surprising, given the treatment meted out to those who challenge the nation’s autocracy.

Howe promised, long ago, that he would answer questions about Newcastle’s owners once he had educated himself on the history and the mores of the kingdom but his education has gone on so long that he could have completed a PhD on it by now.

There is an argument, of course, that he has no need to justify his actions. We do not condemn Newcastle players for taking Saudi cash. Why should they, or LIV golfers, or boxers who fight in the Riyadh Season and beyond, or Lionel Messi, who is paid to advertise Saudi as a tourist destination, or Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays his club football there, be held to higher standards than the rest of us?

The suggestion, certainly, is that the FA do not care about Howe’s close ties with Saudi Arabia and that they see them as no impediment to his appointment as England manager, either as the permanent successor to Southgate or at some time in the future.

If that is the case, I think they’re wrong. Howe can get away with taking Saudi cash as Newcastle boss but, as Carsley has discovered, when you are the England manager, you are subjected to an entirely different level of scrutiny.

In a way, when you take charge of the England men’s team, you cease to become a private citizen. You become, as Southgate and so many more before him have discovered, public property.

Carsley had the strength and the quiet conviction to stand up for what he believed in and to continue with his respectful observation of the national anthem without bowing to the calls to sing it. Some supported that. Some were infuriated by it. He persisted with what he believed was right.

Howe has never done that. He has hidden in the shadows. He has taken the Saudi money and run from the questions about his principles. He has sought to take refuge in evasion and silence.

Most have their red lines when it comes to the custodians of the Impossible Job.

For some, those lines might be drawn around questionable business dealings. For others, they might be drawn around troubling views on reincarnation and the disabled.

For others, it might be picking a foreigner as the England manager. For others, it might be taking the knee before a game. Or staying silent when the national anthem is sung. Or working for a regime that cuts up a journalist into mini-body-bag-sized pieces with a bone-saw.

Maybe you fit into the category who thinks Howe has crossed the line, that he’s tainted. Maybe you don’t care. Maybe you think, like some, that if you have ever ordered an Uber, you are no different to Howe because Uber is part-owned by the kingdom, too.

That’s the England manager’s job for you. Where one man’s sinner is another man’s saint.

Doping tests show Sinner is no saint 

Talking of saints, it felt surprising how quickly many were prepared to bestow forgiveness on the new US Open men’s singles champion Jannik Sinner after he beat Taylor Fritz in the final at Flushing Meadows on Sunday.

Sinner twice tested positive for the banned steroid clostebol – which can be used to build muscle mass – in March, but escaped without punishment from the International Tennis Integrity Agency after he provided a convoluted excuse about being inadvertently contaminated by a massage from his physiotherapist.

Power aids exoneration in sport, as it always has done. Sinner’s triumph in New York is nothing to celebrate.

Generosity and humanity at Great North Run

You have read more than enough about me completing long runs very slowly in recent weeks but it feels worth mentioning that taking part in the Great North Run from Newcastle to South Shields for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation on Sunday was, most of all, a wonderful reminder of the power of the event for good and the incredible generosity and humanity of the people of the North East. 

One of my abiding memories will be the young children standing by the side of the road in pouring rain holding out trays of sugary sweets for runners struggling to complete the course. The encouragement of thousands for a cast of total strangers is what makes mass participation runs so special.