STRACHAN HAS SCOT TO STAY

ROY KEANE has lobbed another grenade Everton’s way in the escalating spat over midfielder James McCarthy’s fitness.

The 26-year-old remains available for Ireland ahead of the World Cup qualifiers with Moldova on Friday and Wales on Monday despite not having played since July because of a knee injury.

Toffees boss Ronald Koeman made it clear last week that he wanted McCarthy to withdraw from the Irish squad.

But he trained yesterday and Ireland No.2 Keane (above) said: “You’ve got to be careful, but at the same time you’ve got to take some sort of a risk, pushing your body. He seems to be picking up a number of injuries at Everton.

“As much as they look at what we’re doing, they have to look at what they are doing.” SCOTLAND’S players want Gordon Strachan to remain in charge even if they miss out on next summer’s World Cup.

Strachan and his side are gearing up for tomorrow’s do-or-die qualifier against Slovakia. Victory would give them a shot at securing a play-off spot by beating Slovenia in Ljubljana on Sunday.

Failure to win either game would see Scotland fail to reach Russia and extend their big-tournament drought to 20 years.

Strachan’s contract is up at the end of this campaign, but playmaker Barry Bannan said: “I can’t speak highly enough of the manager. He’s a brilliant coach.”

And left-back Andrew Robertson added: “I’d love the gaffer to stay.”