Roy Keane has left

[pauliewalnuts]

I reckon more appearances in our midfield would do him even better ;-)

[Dave]

Pedant alert - Ryan Giggs couldn't have represented any other country than Wales, given that he was born there to Welsh parents

Don't lots of players qualify for other countries on the basis of their grandparents' nationality?

They do, but as somebody on the previous page mentioned the only other country apart from Wales that Giggs could have represented was Sierra Leone thanks to his paternal grandfather.

[Damo70]

Pedant alert - Ryan Giggs couldn't have represented any other country than Wales, given that he was born there to Welsh parents

Don't lots of players qualify for other countries on the basis of their grandparents' nationality?

They do, but as somebody on the previous page mentioned the only other country apart from Wales that Giggs could have represented was Sierra Leone thanks to his paternal grandfather.

Do they still go back as far as the grandparents or has the rule changed? I know Vinny Jones qualified for Wales through a grandparent and a number of the successful Republic of Ireland sides from the late eighties onwards made the most of the grandparent rule.

[saunders_heroes]

If you were born in the UK you can choose whatever country in the UK you want to play for.
Can't remember his name, but the Walsall keeper from the 90s (who was born in England but without any connections to Northern Ireland whatsoever) went on to play regular international football for Northern Ireland for years.

[Toronto Villa]

all this talk of Grealish playing international football is a bit like when we Lambert first arrived and some people were shitting it on day 2 that it was inevitable he'd be fucking off to Dortmund in a year or two.

[Dave]

If you were born in the UK you can choose whatever country in the UK you want to play for.
Can't remember his name, but the Walsall keeper from the 90s (who was born in England but without any connections to Northern Ireland whatsoever) went on to play regular international football for Northern Ireland for years.

Nope. If you were born in one of the four nations you have to have a link (you/parents/grandparents) to the territory that you're representing and always have done, in modern history at least.

You're probably thinking of Trevor Wood, who was born in Jersey. If you're born in a crown dependency (Channel Islands, Isle Of Man etc) then you can pick. Matt Le Tissier was eligible for all four home nations as well and picked England.

[LeeB]

If you marry your sister you can play for Small Heath.

Top drawer Jon, bravo.

[Ger Regan]

Still no sign of a replacement then?

[Ron Manager]

Still no sign of a replacement then?

Doesnt look like it. I wonder who is training them? Not Lambert surely?

[cheltenhamlion]

Marshall.

[supertom]

I was actually quite surprised to see Lambert addressing the issue of Keane going to Cleverleys the other day. I actually figured it may have been made up, but it seems it did actually happen. Whether it was quite as polite as Lambert said is another matter. Nothing is surprising with Keane though. He's mad as a fucking brush. We're well rid. The novelty value wore off quickly.

[Matt C]

He's far too thin skinned to be a manager/coach, certainly in the PL spotlight anyway.

[danno]

[Risso]

If you were born in the UK you can choose whatever country in the UK you want to play for.
Can't remember his name, but the Walsall keeper from the 90s (who was born in England but without any connections to Northern Ireland whatsoever) went on to play regular international football for Northern Ireland for years.

Nope. If you were born in one of the four nations you have to have a link (you/parents/grandparents) to the territory that you're representing and always have done, in modern history at least.

You're probably thinking of Trevor Wood, who was born in Jersey. If you're born in a crown dependency (Channel Islands, Isle Of Man etc) then you can pick. Matt Le Tissier was eligible for all four home nations as well and picked England.

You're both right.  They changed the rules a few years ago (but too late for Ryan Giggs) so that UK players could play for one of the other countries if they'd had so many years of full time education in that other country.

[Dave]

If you were born in the UK you can choose whatever country in the UK you want to play for.
Can't remember his name, but the Walsall keeper from the 90s (who was born in England but without any connections to Northern Ireland whatsoever) went on to play regular international football for Northern Ireland for years.

Nope. If you were born in one of the four nations you have to have a link (you/parents/grandparents) to the territory that you're representing and always have done, in modern history at least.

You're probably thinking of Trevor Wood, who was born in Jersey. If you're born in a crown dependency (Channel Islands, Isle Of Man etc) then you can pick. Matt Le Tissier was eligible for all four home nations as well and picked England.

You're both right.  They changed the rules a few years ago (but too late for Ryan Giggs) so that UK players could play for one of the other countries if they'd had so many years of full time education in that other country.

That bit is true - but that's not the same as "If you were born in the UK you can choose whatever country in the UK you want to play for", which definitely isn't true.