For those of you who don't know, James McCarthy is the hottest midfield prospect plying his trade in Britain today. At the tender of 17 he has affirmed himself as one of the best midfielders playing in Scotland, for Hamilton Academicals in the Scottish Premier League. But the SFA and FAI are at loggerheads over James, why?
Teams like Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and a host of other Premiership teams regularly keep track of young James, he has even caught the eye of suitors from Europe such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich.
Such is the attention in James that regular Hamilton fans claim their gate has doubled since he started playing, not down to an increase in fans but an increase in scouts!
James is good. Very, very good.
He made his debut for Hamilton when he was 15, and at the age of 16 had established himself as a fixture in their promotion winning team. Now at 17 he has played around 70 games for the Accies, so you can appreciate that James is somewhat of a prodigy.
He is blessed with strength and power and has a tireless engine. He is a very simple passer of the ball and has found the net on no less than eight occasions. At this stage of his career he is usually compared with Roy Keane.
The problems between the SFA (Scottish Football Association) and the FAI (Football Association of Ireland) arise because James was born in Glasgow, Scotland. But he plays for the Irish underage teams.
McCarthy's grandfather is from Donegal, and it is through his ancestry that he has been able to declare for Ireland. James' grandfather left Ireland in the '30s in search of work. That search eventually brought him to Castlemilk, Glasgow—an Irish enclave in Scotland.
Indeed another famous Glaswegian, Ray Houghton, was also from the same area and he too declared for Ireland. The people of Castlemilk consider themselves Irish and have celebrated everything Irish since the corporation estate was established.
At underage football James' talents began to show and he was left out of many Scottish squads while the SFA selectors dithered over whether he was good enough. But a chance meeting with Irish underage manager Sean McCaffrey would bring McCarthy's talents to the FAI.
A phone-call and a plane flight later McCaffrey found himself sitting in a living room in Castlemilk and the rest is history. Since then James has played at U-17, U-18, U-19 and U-21 level for Ireland, and is widely predicted to be part of Giovanni Trappatoni's squad to face Poland next month.
The reason James is being fast tracked into the senior side is the amorous attention he has received from Terry Butcher (Asst. Manager) and George Burley (Scotland Manager) recently.
James does not have to declare for a country until 21, if he doesn't play a competitive match. Burley and Butcher have both intimated to James that he would be included in future senior squads should he declare for Scotland.
The FAI were thrown into turmoil this week as McCarthy pulled out of the U-21 squad due to face Lithuania. And amid rumours he was about to defect FAI officials sought a meeting with James and his family.
39 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete