If English football held a few nasty surprises for Marinus Dijkhuizen , his replacement as Brentford manager knows the game on these shores better than many.

Lee Carsley , who has been handed the Griffin Park gig until the end of the season following Dijkhuizen's sacking , played more than 500 games in the top two division over here.

The Birmingham-born midfielder started out at Derby County, breaking through to the first team at a time when the Rams were scrambling for a place in the newly-formed Premier League.

After playing more than 150 games for Derby, during which time he received his first call-up for the Republic of Ireland, having qualified through his grandmother, Carsley was flogged to a Blackburn side struggling to recreate their title glory of a few years earlier in March 1999 for £4.5million.

Despite being a defensive midfielder, he finished at Blackburn's top scorer the following season, bagging 11 goals in all, but when he moved on to Coventry City a year and a half later it was only for £3million.

But a further move to Everton, for £1.9million, 14 months later, was the making of Carsley's career, as he became a linchpin of the Goodison Park side's midfield for some six years, helping the into the Champions League in his third season at the club, and scoring the winner against Liverpool in the 200 Merseyside Derby.

Meanwhile, having played in the qualifiers for both the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, Carlsey was part of the Ireland squad which made it to the quarter finals in 2002, making his solitary finals appearance in a 3-0 win over Saudi Arabia.

Old pals act: Carsley with David Weir

Back in England, at a time when he was winning the last of his 40 international caps, Everton decided not to renew Carsley's contract, and he moved to home town club Birmingham in May 2008.

Before long, he was installed as club captain, and by the end of the season, he had led the Blues back into the Premier League, picking up the club's Player of the Year award in the process.

After leaving Brum at the end of the 2009-10 season, Carsley returned to Coventry on a one-year deal, where he was again made skipper, and after retiring at the end of the season, was made the club's U18s coach.

He was soon promoted, first to development squad coach, and then first team coach, and even had two spells as caretaker manager in 2012 and 2013, following the departures of Andy Thorn and Mark Robins respectively.

Kiss this: Carsley is welcomed to Everton by Gazza

A short spell as assistant manager to David Weir at Sheffield United followed in 2013, and the following year he linked up with Weir again at Brentford, where the latter was now assistant manager, and where Carsley became development squad manager.

That is the role 41 year old has held for almost exactly a year, before today answering the call to take over first team duties.