James McFadden urges Fletcher to end his feud with Levein

JAMES McFadden has urged Steven Fletcher to end his stand-off with Craig Levein by picking up the phone and talking to the Scotland manager.

In a wide-ranging interview with Scotland on Sunday, McFadden addresses his own fallout with Levein for the first time – “the management were out of order” – as well as his mooted link with Celtic last year – “they wanted me to go on a two-week trial” – and, on the Fletcher saga, he says that, if the Wolves striker doesn’t return to the international fold, then he will regret it in years to come.

“I know he’s made his decision,” said McFadden, “but if I ever see him I’ll say. ‘Just go back and play’. Definitely. I spent my first spell at Everton with Fergie [Duncan Ferguson] and he wished he could have played more for Scotland. I don’t think he regrets his decision, he just regrets that in his own mind he couldn’t play. I know a few years down the line Fletch would probably say, ‘I wish I had just bitten the bullet’. He’s probably the best striker we’ve got now. Maybe he made a bit of a rash decision. Somebody’s got to swallow their pride, whether it’s Fletch or the manager. Somebody’s got to do it. The manager has said all he’s got to do is phone so maybe that’s him made the first move and Fletch needs to act on it. Then again, he might be happy with his decision, I don’t know.”

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McFadden left Birmingham last summer and returned to Everton on a deal until the end of the season. He has been dogged by injury for 18 months. Since rupturing his knee ligaments in September 2010 he has only played three times. Currently, he is fighting back from a tear in his groin. He has not played for Scotland since being substituted at half-time in the 2-1 win over Liechtenstein in September 2010.

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