Lay off McCarthy, urges SFA chief

Published on Thursday 9 October 2008 21:49

GORDON Smith, the chief executive of the SFA, says people should not criticise James McCarthy after the Hamilton midfielder decided his international future lies with the Republic of Ireland.

Glasgow-born McCarthy qualifies for the Republic through his Donegal-born grandfather and has represented the country at under-17, under-18 and under-21 level. But the SFA was hoping to persuade the 17-year-old to switch his allegiance to the country of his birth.

McCarthy revealed yesterday that he could not turn his back on the Republic of Ireland, and Smith says fans must accept his decision.

"No problem with it at all," said Smith when asked about the matter yesterday. "It's up to the lad himself. People should not try and influence him, or criticise anyone. He has made a decision and should be respected for that.

"I stayed out of it. Billy Stark is involved at that level. I said to Billy to determine two things: is he a player you want to get, and then look and see whether he is still eligible to play and that he had an interest too.

"I would hope we wouldn't miss out on him, but he's made a decision. Maybe it should have been looked at before in terms of him playing for their (Republic of Ireland's] teams rather than ours."

McCarthy said: "I'm really flattered that Scotland were interested in me. The fact is I'd already made my decision. Ireland have been absolutely brilliant to me and my family and I couldn't turn my back on them."