Ray Houghton was ‘never asked’ to play for Scotland

Former Liverpool midfielder Ray Houghton says he opted to represent the Republic of Ireland because he was “never asked” to play for Scotland after a trial that “didn’t go very well”.

Glasgow-born Houghton, who won 72 caps for Ireland from 1986-97, had a trial as a teenager when Andy Roxburgh was Scotland boss.

Speaking on the Sacked in the Morning podcast, he said: “I’ve got to be honest with you, it didn’t go very well.

“The manager, a certain Mr Andy Roxburgh, didn’t take to the lads from England, to be honest with you.

“There were I think it was five or six, there were two or three lads from Middlesbrough, one from Millwall, a striker, and myself. And he didn’t have a clue where we played.

“We were playing in a small game at Largs in the indoor, five-a-side thing. And he said, ‘Right, you Anglos get a team together.’ So he didn’t really endear us to being there.

“And I didn’t do particularly well. I did all right. He didn’t even know where I played. He just said to me, well, at the last game, go and play on the wing.

“I said, I play in the middle. He went, ‘Just go and play on the wing.’

“I did meet him subsequently at Anfield, at the training ground. He said, ‘Why didn’t you come and play for Scotland?’. I said, ‘One, I was never asked. No one ever asked me. You can’t go somewhere you are never asked to go.’

“And I said, ‘By the way, when I was under 18 and you were the manager, you weren’t very engaging towards us’. He was a lovely fellow, I got on great with Andy after that.”