Unless you’ve been stuck in a bathysphere for the past few days, you’ll probably be well aware of Scott
McTominay, the Manchester United youngster whose decision to play for Scotland instead of England has just about had Nicola Sturgeon ordering Walkers to commission a commemorative shortbread tin.
While the general consensus is that Sir Alex Ferguson was hugely influential in getting the Lancashire-born 21-year-old to confirm his allegiance to the land of his father’s birth, Craig Brown insists the string-pulling of Jose Mourinho, the current manager at Old Trafford, would have been, arguably, more effective.
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“I read that Sir Alex Ferguson was influential in McTominay’s decision,” said Brown, who was speaking at Hampden yesterday. “However the most influential guy will have been Jose Mourinho.
“Mourinho has a great affection for Scotland. He did his coaching badges at Largs and he loved it in Scotland. When he started at Chelsea I was at Derby and I met him at a reserve game at Brentford. He was the manager of Chelsea and there he was in the hamburger queue.
“I was watching the game with the Derby reserve team and I was talking to him. I said to him, ‘do you think you can just come to England and beat Alex Ferguson’.
“And Mourinho replied, ‘no chance, it’s not him or the Scottish I want to beat it is the English’. If the boy McTominay had said to Mourinho ‘Scotland or England?’ I think Mourinho would have steered him down the Scotland route as he is so well disposed to Scotland. I believe Mourinho would be very supportive of him playing for Scotland.”
With Alex McLeish’s second term as Scotland manager getting underway later this month with friendly encounters against Costa Rica and Hungary, Brown believes the new manager has already made a telling mark by getting McTominay to commit to the Scots.
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“It is a massive coup for Alex,” added Brown. “To beat England to get a player is just like beating them in a game.”
The issue of national eligibility through family has always caused debate. Brown used various clauses to cap Scotland players in his time in charge of the national team but he still has his doubts about such rules even though the country can benefit from a wider pool of player.
“Guys like Stuart McCall and Don Hutchison were like Scott McTominay in that their dads were Scottish,” he said
“I don’t think, however, you should be allowed to go to the grandparents. But if you can, then we have to use it, otherwise we could be disadvantaged.”
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