FORMER Northern Ireland boss Nigel Worthington believes the home nations should take advantage of FIFA’s residency rule when deciding which footballers can represent their country.

The issue has been hotly-debated this week following reports that England coach Roy Hodgson is exploring the possibility of selecting Manchester United’s latest wonder kid Adnan Januzaj in the future.

Januzaj, 18, shot to prominence with two well-taken Premier League goals for the Red Devils against Sunderland last weekend.

Having lived on these shores since joining the Red Devils in March 2011, he would be permitted by football’s world governing body to represent the Three Lions in two-and-a-half years despite being born in Belgium to Kosova-Albanian parents.

Under that ruling, anybody who has been based in a country for five years, regardless of whether their parents or grand-parenets were born there, is free to play internationals for that nation.

Currently, though, that mandate is superseded by a Home Nations Agreement that states the English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Football Associations require a further stipulation to be met – that such a player should have been educated in their country for at least five years.

England’s Stevenage-born highly-talented midfielder Jack Wilshere, meanwhile, made his thoughts on national identity very clear following talk of Januzaj’s eligibility when he said: “If you live in England for five years, it doesn’t make you English.

“You shouldn’t play. If I went to Spain and lived there for five years I am not going to play for Spain.”

England did, however, give 79 caps to John Barnes. who moved at the age of 12 to England from Jamaica – his place of birth as well as that of his family.

More recently, Polish-born pair Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski have scored 114 goals in 241 collective caps for Germany.

But Klose, who moved to his adopted country at the age of eight only able to speak two words of the language, admitted in 2008 that it was best to describe him as European rather than German or Polish.

He is now Germany’s joint-top scorer of all time.

Elsewhere, Senegal-born and bred Patrick Vieira won World Cup and European Championship finals on the back of his grandfather serving in the French army and current City boss Worthington believes it would be remiss of international managers not to fully explore the possibilities provided by FIFA’s regulations.

As Northern Ireland manager, Worthington persuaded Steve Bruce’s Norwich-born son, Alex, to switch allegiances from the Republic of Ireland, who he had played a friendly for at full international level.

The Hull City defender is now a member of the latest Northern Irish squad, along with six other English-born players and a Canadian.

City’s Hartlepool-born on-loan winger Ryan Brobbel, meanwhile, is on under-21 duty for the same country that also gave Bootham Crescent’s Preston-born ’keeper Michael Ingham three full international caps.

Anybody who has ever spoken to Ingham, however, would be hard-pressed to dispute his nationality.

Despite having spent the last six seasons with the Minstermen, there has been very little dulling of an accent honed during his childhood upbringing across the Irish Sea.

Explaining his pragmatic thoughts on international eligibility, Worthington said: “If there had been a very good foreign player living and playing in Northern Ireland when I was the manager, I would have had to have a look at it and it’s the same with England and the young lad who scored for Manchester United against Sunderland last weekend.

“He’s eligible and it would be hard for any nation to turn down a player that possesses the qualities he appears to have. The rules are there and, while they are there, you may as well use them.

“I have got nothing against all the home nations looking at that, although there is a bigger picture to be addressed in terms of too many overseas players in this country preventing British-born players coming through.”


In-form Josh leads race for Press award

JOSH Carson is leading The Press Player of the Month contest for October.

A Press man-of-the-match display during last weekend’s 3-0 win at Torquay earned the Northern Ireland under-21 international three points towards the standings.

He also received a further two bonus points towards the monthly competition after polling the most man-of-the-match votes for that game from visitors to our website and followers of the @daveflettpress Twitter account.

The other points awarded for the Plainmoor clash went to Elliott Whitehouse (two) and Wes Fletcher (one) as our second and third-highest rated players.

Following Tuesday night’s 3-0 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy defeat to Rotherham, The Press points went to man-of-the-match Luke O’Neill (three), Fletcher (two) and Ashley Chambers (one).

O’Neill and Fletcher shared the two bonus points on offer.

To be in with a chance of presenting the October Press Player of the Month with a framed photograph before a City home game, vote for your man of the match from forthcoming games or tweet your choice to @daveflettpress

The Press Player of the Year standings: Oyebanjo 9pts, McGurk 7, Smith 7, Carson 6, Fletcher 6, Jarvis 6, Montrose 6, Chambers 5, Brobbel 4, Clay 4, O’Neill 3, Ingham 2, Parslow 2, Puri 2, Whitehouse 2, Davies 1.

The Press Player of the Month latest standings: Carson 5, Fletcher 4, O’Neill 4, Whitehouse 2, Chambers 1.

Goals: Jarvis 6, Fletcher 3, Brobbel 1, Carson 1, McGurk 1, Montrose 1.

Assists: Bowman 2, Brobbel 2, Carson 2, Clay 2, Jarvis 2, Cresswell 1, McGurk 1, Smith 1.

Bad boys: Montrose five yellow cards; Oyebanjo three yellows; Cresswell one red, one yellow; Smith two yellows; Bowman one red; Carson, Chambers, Clay, Coulson, Jarvis, O’Neill, Parslow, Platt, Whitehouse all one yellow.