Ferguson urges Vogts to think Irish

[Neil]

Ferguson urges Vogts to think Irish

Thursday 14th March 2002

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has encouraged new Scotland coach Bertie Vogts to follow the Repubic of Ireland's example and look for non-native Scottish players. "The Irish have been brilliant at it for years," said the Scottish manager.

Ferguson - who once managed Scotland himself - has encouraged the German coach to be a little more creative in his definition of what constitutes a Scottish player and look for players with a Scottish ancestry as well as those actually born in Scotland.

"That's going to be important for Vogts and Scotland," Ferguson told the Scotsman. "The Irish have been brilliant at it for years, better than anybody else, and it's helped them."

The Republic of Ireland's strength in the last decade has been based upon their innovative approach to luring players born elsewhere into playing for their national side. International heroes such as John Aldridge, Tony Cascarino and Matt Holland have played for Ireland despite being linked only to the country through distant relatives.

Ever since former England international Jack Charlton began selecting non-Ireland born players, the Republic of Ireland have prospered in international competition and Ferguson believes that Scotland now have to follow the same blueprint and seek out players with Scottish ancestry.

"They are very hot on researching backgrounds and they have what you might call recruiting officers everywhere," said Ferguson. "Vogts is going to have to rely on somebody for that and he should make sure whoever it is knows what he's doing."

The United manager also expressed his concern that one of his side's young stars who could qualify to play for Scotland and Ireland might be tempted to join Mick McCarthy's side despite being born in Scotland.

"We have a young lad here, Darren Fletcher, who is from Edinburgh, and has a real chance of making it big," he said. "He's just turned 18 and has had bad luck with injury, but he could be a big player.

"But one of young Fletcher's parents is Irish, so he qualifies for both. I keep him well warned about the colour of international jersey he'll be wearing," joked the manager. "Every time I see Roy Keane go near him, I threaten him."

Ireland have been tracking Fletcher for some time but at one stage he had turned down the chance to play for the Republic and instead opt for Scotland, but Ferguson believes that the Irish door is still open to the teenager.

Ferguson also encouraged the new Scotland manager to pay close attention to another United teenager to ensure that he does not stray over the sea to the Repubic of Ireland.

"We also have Michael Stewart, who I think could almost be in the Scotland squad now, even if it's hard for him to get into our side at the moment," said Ferguson.

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Eh... ****?

[Éanna]

p!ss off fergie, it's embarassing enough as it is without people shouting about it!