LAFFERTY’S LIFELINE AMID ‘SECTARIAN’ SCANDAL

KYLE LAFFERTY could still have a future in international football after Northern Ireland boss Ian Baraclough handed him a lifeline amid a disciplinary storm. Lafferty is the subject of an internal investigation by his club side Kilmarnock after a video emerged online which allegedly shows him using sectarian language. The 35-year-old striker was axed from the Northern Ireland squad yesterday morning ahead of today’s UEFA Nations League game against Kosovo and Tuesday’s trip to face Greece. But, despite the player being sent home, Northern Ireland boss Baraclough tried to play down the issue and was reluctant to close the door on Lafferty. He claimed that the Killie star, who is Northern Ireland’s second highest goalscorer of all-time, had been suffering from a back complaint and might have been struggling to be part of the squad in any case. The back injury was also mentioned in an Irish FA statement issued earlier yesterday, which left the precise reason for Lafferty’s withdrawal unclear. Questions about that statement were shut down in the tense press conference that followed, but Baraclough did say there was a way back for Lafferty, who scored the last of his 20 international goals in 2016, and who has been in and out of the Northern Ireland squad over the past two years. ‘It’s not necessarily the end,’ said Baraclough. ‘It will be reported in some quarters as that and it will be sensationalised but I’m there for Kyle. ‘The fact was that Kyle hadn’t trained since Tuesday. He’s got a back problem and that was something that was part of the thought behind it as well.’ The Irish FA will not conduct its own investigation into the matter, leaving it in the hands of Killie. ‘He’s not our contracted player,’ said Baraclough. ‘He’s with us at this moment in time, but he’s contracted by Kilmarnock. ‘They pay his wages, they own his contract and it’s for them to conduct the inquiry.’ Whatever the outcome of that investigation, the controversy threatens to undermine the cross-community work that the IFA continues to do. Baraclough said he wanted football to remain part of the solution in Northern Ireland. ‘Although I’ve not lived here growing up, having lived with what has happened through The Troubles and how society is dealing with what has happened, hopefully going forward it is a stronger, more together nation,’ he said. ‘For me, we play a part in that by bringing a group of fans together who love supporting Northern Ireland.’