GRAN NATIONAL
Ex-Scotland manager’s top tactic to find players for team
Former Scotland boss Craig Levein once got a scout to hang about after football matches in England and ask players if they had a Scottish granny.
The 57-year- old, who was in charge of the national side from 2009 to 2012, said he used the tactic in the hope of unearthing an unexpected gem for his squad. Footbal lers are eligible to represent any country in which they, a parent or a grandparent was born and Levein revealed his “brass-necked” scout would accost top players after games to see if they met the requirements. He said: “It was something that when I went into the national team job, you’ve got to try to find a bigger pool to pick from.
“I – or the SFA – employed Mick Oliver, who is a scout and a guy I used to play with at Cowdenbeath a long time ago.
“Mick’s been about the game and he’s also got a brass neck , so Mick would try to get in touch with the
George Mair
guys and, if he couldn’t get in touch with them or didn’t know somebody who knew their number, he would just go and watch the game and stand out side and accost them afterwards.
“We got Matt Phillips and Steven Caulker, I think, was another one we chased doing that, ( through) Mick just hanging about outside grounds, looking dodgy.”
West Bromwich Albion winger Phillips starred for England’s under-19 and under-20 teams but changed his allegiance to Scotland in 2012 after Levein became aware of his Scottish grandparents and he has since played 16 times for Scotland, scoring once in a friendly win over Hungary.
Defender Caulker, wh o s e m a t e r n a l granny Jessie is from Clackmannanshire, also played for England at age group level and even made a goalscoring appearance for the senior England team in a friendly against Sweden in 2012.
Since his only full England cap was not in a competitive match, he remained able to change allegiances. Despite expressing an interest in playing for Scotland, he never made an appearance and he is no longer eligible as he represented Sier ra Leone in this year’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Levein, who won 16 caps for Scotland, told the BBC Radio Scotland podcast Sacked In The Morning how he couldn’t turn down the manager’s job when it was offered – despite a reluctance to abandon his position as boss of Dundee United.
Levein said: “I got offered the Scotland job at a time when I didn’t want to leave Dundee United. I had a really good team but, for me, getting offered the Scotland job, I couldn’t turn it down. It’s a real honour to manage an international side.”