James McCarthy

[Dub13]

Todays Daily Mail reports that Scotland will try to steal back James McCarthy from us.

SCOTLAND have made a move to steal James McCarthy from the Republic of Ireland.

MailSport can reveal the Hamilton hitkid has been assessed by George Burley who reckons the 17-year-old can go all the way.

And the Scots boss has ordered his backroom staff to pull out all the stops to land the midfielder.

McCarthy was born in Glasgow but opted to turn out for Ireland's Under-17 team last year after previous Scotland regimes had ignored him.

His grandfather was born in Donegal and he has since been capped at Under-18, Under-19 and Under-21 level.

But a player can switch allegiances up until his 21st birthday as long as he hasn't won a full cap.

And this loophole has led to the SFA talking with Accies boss Billy Reid to find out McCarthy's feelings on a switch.

Burley - who watched the player in Hamilton's 4-0 defeat by Celtic yesterday - and Scotland Under-21 boss Billy Stark want to meet him.

Both believe he could be playing for the full side before long but the SFA are awaiting news.

Landing McCarthy would be a major coup but the Irish - who saw Celtic's Aiden McGeady pick them ahead of Scotland - are desperate to keep him.

The youngster signed a three-year Hamilton deal in the summer but is being monitored by Celtic, Chelsea and Liverpool.

[emc2]

If any more midfielders drop out of the squad for the cyprus game he might get a run out!!

[CHARMAC]

is this the same lad that Liverpool tried to sign a while back

[D-Red]

is this the same lad that Liverpool tried to sign a while back

The very one.

A year or so ago he turned us down

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/h/hamilton_academical/6638285.stm

[MutantNinjaSkrtel]

scotland can **** off!the lad is quality and has been playing with ireland all the way up.i read somewhere ages ago that his grandfather asked him to play for us on his deathbed.dont ley him down jamie!

[Dub13]

http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3677


Hamilton Academicals midfielder James McCarthy, 17, has decided to reaffirm his commitment to the Republic of Ireland national teams following significant media speculation recently.

James is flattered by the genuine interest shown in him by Billy Stark and George Burley in recent weeks with a view to him being selected by Scotland.

However, he is now in his third season with the Irish set up, having already represented them at Under-17, Under-18, Under-19 and Under-21 levels, despite still being a month short of his 18th birthday.

James feels he would be letting too many people down by switching from the Irish at this stage. He is content to end the speculation and now just wishes to concentrate on his club commitments with Accies in the SPL where he is thoroughly enjoying the involvement and demands upon him there.

Hamilton Academicals are delighted to see our young players gain international recognition with Scotland, having had three players capped at various levels already this season, but would also firmly and fully back young James on this particular occasion.

The club are quite happy to support what has been James decision. Hamilton manager Billy Reid is delighted with the player’s progress at the club, which has been tremendous considering his young age and feels that the player is fully deserving of the various club and international interest in him.

[CHARMAC]

Great to see the lad is happy to continue to comimt to Ireland, it can't be easy for him with pressure comming the Scottish FA and George Burley to switch allegance, but you can't blame the Scottish for trying to change his mind, from what I hear he's a real prospect, he's shown more loyalty to this country then a certian Man City player who was born here and refuses to play for his country, maybe we can do a swap with Scotland or something but that would'nt work either as Scotland are a proud nation

[trucker]

is this the same lad that Liverpool tried to sign a while back

Turned us down and correctly so, no young player in Britain wants to come near us at the moment with the way the Academy is been run! Agents are advising players not to come here due to the fact the manager will not give players a chance, Rafa has actually said that he does'nt think players under 21 are able for 1st team football! Like i said on another post Jack Rodwell is a big Reds fan but turned us down to join the Bitters and made his debut age 16, i'm not saying thats correct but the lad woul'nt be given a chance with us for 4/5 years, this is gona happen alot as our academy is now been drowned out with a load of average/shit foriegn players with a couple of exceptions!