Is he good enough to be chasing?

Sunday Mail article that we're trying to usurp the Oirish

He's better than Scott Brown, so if Brown constantly gets a start James would have no problem, however he won't play for Scotland.

Be a shame if not but if he's a Scot at all he would change his mind in seconds so if not then good riddance

More irresponsible journalism putting ideological pressure on the lhad.

He's happily ensconced in the Ireland setup now - people need to accept his decision move on.

These articles cropping up every few months are becoming increasingly pathetic.

Not irresponsible at all

He's Scottish and at present can play for Scotland so I'm all for applying any pressure possible

Pish, utter pish.



I see no problem in the SFA asking what the situation is.




Did the Irish FA put "ideological pressure" on McGeady to play for them?

James has left nobody in any doubt of the situation - still every few weeks a whisky-soaked gutter rat takes it upon himself to stir up and encourage the likes of Bloobell.

What makes me (and no doubt James) laugh is the overweaning arrogance which informs these people's assumptions. "We only have to snap our fingers and he'll obviously ditch Oirland".

In reality, the guy probably wants to play in the later stages of European Championships and World Cups and knows Ireland are a better bet.

None of the above is in any way related to "ideology" which was my disagreement of your post.

We all know the DR is shit in paper form, their reporting on all issues is skewed at the best of times, downright lies at the worst.

I still don't see any problem with Burley asking him if he is happy with his choice though, and he is doing that through Billy Reid which seems like the entirely right channel to do it. Until he makes his choice, and if he is a player that Burley thinks has a future as a Scottish internationalist (I am still undecided, imo), then until he is unavailable for selection I would hope Burley will make the effort to check.

If, of course, McCarthy comes out and says direct to Burley (and not through a newspaper or some other conduit) "no George, I want to play for Ireland" then I think that is the point it should be dropped.

Would you not rather see him playing for Scotland as a scotsman?

He's not very good anyway. McArthur is far better and I fail too see why the press focus so much on McCarthy.

Take it you watch Accies every week then?

McArthur is an excellent player but McCarthy has outshone him this season. McCarthy has been the best player in our team. Alex Neil and Brian Easton not far behind.

Eeveryone in all of these threads forgets one thing.The boy is 17,still to fill out and still to mature as a player.

It is his perceived potential which makes clubs chase him and the thought of how good he will be at 21-25.

Barry Nicholson for Scotland He has been kick ass for PNE.

I know its off topic but what the hell.

Well I am no whisky-soaked gutter rat. I am a Scot with a good deal of Irish ancestry and I could only opt to play for Scotland,

Just as a matter of interest. If you were in McCarthy's position and could play for Scotland or Ireland who would you choose. You don't need to answer it it is too embarrassing for you.

Ireland are pish anyway.

I'd like to see him playing for Scotland but it won't happen now.

Why would it be embarrassing?

I grew up charging about in my 'Opel' Republic of Ireland shirt and my allegiances have been with the boys in green ever since I can remember.

who needs him when we've got Scott Arfield



























....................................................seriousl
y

After seeing that on Saturday I disagree, he had McCarthy in his back pocket the full game.

You spelt lad wrong.

I think thats a bit rash. Scott Brown was consistently excellent for Hibs for a number of seasons before his form dipped at Celtic. McArthys only been an SPL player for a couple of months.

I'm curious. Are you Irish in any way?

No harm in trying. Would be great in couple of years if we managed to obtain his services for the national team.

If you're Scottish then you're a fuckin joke.

We have as much chance of seeing Agbonlahor in a dark blue shirt as we are with McCarthy. Both would be excellent for us but its just not going to happen. Both players have publicly stated where they want to play so that should be the end of it.

Here's a question for you. If you are born in Scotland to an Irish family then are you Scottish or Irish? I bet everyone comes back with a different answer to that and that is the problem here. The poor lad believes he is from an Irish family so wants to play for Ireland. Lets respect that and move on...!

Are you Irish or are you a born and bred Scotsman who likes to hark on about the 'Old County'. If you have kids or even grandkids I hope you hammer it into them that they should never support Scotland and must always be true and loyal to the 'Old Country'.

McCarthy is already a very good player and has the potential to be a fantastic player and for that reason Scotland should be bursting a gut to get him to play for us. We are not really in a position where we can let good players slip through our fingers.

To say he is better than Scott Brown is daft and at the moment I rate both McArthur and Arfield as better but they are both 3 or 4 years older. If McCarthy keeps progressing the way he is, I reckon he may well be better than all 3 of them.

Jack, I think you should go easy on Beye. He is a Sellick man after all. At least he has the honesty to say he supports the Republic of Ireland over Scotland unlike most other Sellick fans on this website who claim that 'they are not that interested in international football'.

I am a big admirer of Roy Keane. I thought it was hilarious when he told Mick McCarthy:
'You're not Irish, you English c*nt.'

Maybe George Burley should ask Roy to have a quick word with James McCarthy along the lines:
'You're not Irish, you Scottish c*nt.'

While he's at it, he should also give the same advice to Beye.

He is and he is.

Just like McGeady, McCarthy is Scottish and so to opt to play for any other country is a betrayal of his own nationality and his own people. I think the boy is just playing for a transfer to celtic to be honest.

Really? That might have been the case in the early 90s and 2002 but not now by a long shot.
Future world cup qualification is only 50/50 for both countries. As for the European Championship finals, Ireland hasn’t been at one for 20 years. Even Scotland has played at 2 since then and our recent qualification record is hopeless.

Will agree with you on one thing. McCarthy has made his choice and we should let him get on with playing for his “adopted” country even though this will ultimately deny a genuine Irish lad the chance to play for his nation.

We have plenty of other young players who want to play for us – Billy Stark should concentrate on coaching them and improving their skills and abilities

at no time when keane was letting mccarthy know what he thought of him did he question mccarthy's irishness.that "english c**t" jibe was a figment of some tabloid plodder's imagination.roy keanes wife was born in england to irish parents as were his kids.do you honestly think he regards them as english.or c***s for that matter

Obviously Roy could never make such a jibe when having a heated argument with a Yorkshireman

No, he isn't.

Which would lead me to question his upbringing

Could Beyemystic please tell me for how many generations his family should have stayed in Scotland before he or his future descendants can start thinking of themselves as Scottish or are they going to be FOREVER harking back to the Old Country?

At some point in the future, will Beyemystic be buying Republic of Ireland tops for his own grandchildren to prevent 'Scottish contamination' of his family?

Back to the point at hand - under no circumstances should we attempt to change the mind of James McCarthy. The guy doesn't want to play for us, so lets find players who actually do want to. Would you accept a player at you're club who didn't want to be there? no. Why should it be any different at international level.

A lot of the blame for this has to be put at the feet of the SFA.

Constantly they ignore players who potentially could represent Scotland and they get snapped up by countries such as Ireland. Time to sort out the youth selection policy. It would appear we are trying harder to convince non-scottish players to play for Scotland than looking out our own talent back home. We have a lot of talent in this country, FIND IT.

If the boy decides to play with us, then so be it. However I'd agree with most of the posts on here regarding his desire to play for Scotland.

Call me cynical, but I'd suggest the reason he wasn't selected was maybe because he was deemed not good enough at the time.

Well he's been pulled out of the Oirland U21 squad, supposedly because of injury

Time will tell and it would be great if we could secure him for his country of birth

It would also be a jolt for the SFA hopefully - we're only a small country and shouldn't be losing players to other nations

He's decided to stick with the Spudmunchers so fukkum

why on earth would he wish to represent such bigoted filth as yourself?

i hate to say it but you have to respect his decision.

I never minded the Ireland team and was quite happy to see them do well in the world cup a few years ago. But at the rate they seem to stealing some our better youth players, the temptation to cheer for any team that play against them is getting ever stronger.

God help us all if the future of our national team relies on Billy Stark "coaching and improving their skills and abilities"!

You are a c**t.

Back on topic, McCarthy is also a c**t.

There is great quote on the BBC website saying he won't "turn his back" on Ireland as it would be embarrassing for him and Ireland who have treated him so well.

Oh the irony.

I fucking hate him. I hope Ireland never qualify for a major tournament while him Traitor Bhoy are in the side.Hope they have fun watching us compete against the best in the world in the big competitons.

Bitter?Fucking right i am.Both of them, had they not been bigoted little c***s, would have played for us at senior level at some point.

How is that bigoted you bell end?

If the SFA numpties hadn't been so reluctant to pick a player from little old Hamilton Accies we wouldn't have had all these discussions and thousands of computer keyboards up and down the country would have a lot more life left in them. It's still a fucking disgrace that Brian Easton doesn't have an under 21 cap.

He was 15 or 16 when he "decided" his international future ffs. Maybe at that time there were better players than him, how the f**k would you know otherwise?What is your knowledge of youth football across Scotland?Alot less than Archie Knox i am willing to bet.

Brian Easton is fucking donkey btw.

My middle name is Caoimhín

The majority of Scotland supporters are nothing like that, I cringe every single time I see or hear the word "tattie munchers" or anything to do with that, It's totally disrespectful and disgusting.

McGeady has been booed in the past not because he's Irish but because he choose to play for a different country other than Scotland if it was Wales, Slovakia or Andorra he'd still probably get booed. We can't blame the Irish FA for this, they are entitled to tap into a market where they might find a gem of a player. I hate all this switching sides malarky, When a player at either 15 or 30 opts to play for a team, that should be it and that should be his national side, no turning back! so if he doesn't develop in the way people thought then he cannot play for Albania Or Scotland even Quashie, Sullivan, Matt Elliot etc saying that if I was half decent and Scotland didn't want me, I'd defs take a call up from Albania

Burley is entitled to have a go at trying to pursuade the player under current Uefa/Fifa law but McCarthy has made his mind up and good luck to him, I don't want a player who doesn't want to play for us in the first place in our squad. If he feels Irish then fair dues to him.
He's 17 years old, he could end up at Liverpool, Man United etc or he could end up like a lot of bright young Scottish hopes trudging through the League 2, Conference in England leagues. I wish him luck, I'm not bitter would just rather focus on and support players who want to play for us like McManus, Maloney, McCormack, Iwelumo, Kev McCann(who turned down Eirinn), Berra, Fletcher - They all could have choose different nations but opted for us as they seem themselves as Scots.

I've been called a 'tan, black, hun' etc from a few lrish lads before and I am from a catholic family, get your house in order first before you start coming off about bigoted filth. Also remember Celtic Fans singing ''Go Home you Huns, Go Home you Huns'' to Dundee United Fans last December.