Scotland

Mark McGhee happy with selection rules

By Steven Toplis, Reporter | 10 October 2013

Scotland assistant manager Mark McGhee insists that he is happy to make full use of the Home Nations agreement to find players to represent the country.

Scotland assistant manager Mark McGhee has said that he is happy to make full use of the Home Nations agreement in order to find the best possible players to represent the country.

Along with their country of birth or that of their biological parents or grandparents, players can represent a country within the United Kingdom if they have been educated for a minimum of five years there while under the age of 18.

Amid the recent debate over Adnan Januzaj's eligibility to play for England, McGhee has claimed that Scotland will continue to look for any eligible players provided that they improve the team.

"The criteria set down has been thought out and an agreement made between the four Associations. It seems to me that works well enough," McGhee told the Daily Record.

"I don't think there are a load of players out there, if we bend the criteria rules any more, who would suddenly become available for Scotland so I don't think it's all that relevant to us.

"We benefited from Jordan Rhodes and the five-year under-18 rule and we will continue to look at that sort of thing under the rules set and we are happy with that. We are not politicians, we are coaches, and we want the best product we can possibly get from Scottish players and that's what we want to work with."

Meanwhile, former Scotland manager Berti Vogts has revealed that he asked Wayne Rooney to play for the country during his time as manager.