Ex-England right-back Glen Johnson has told how he was asked to play for Scotland as a kid coming through the youth ranks.
Now retired, the former Liverpool, Chelsea and West Ham star was one of the most promising schoolboys in the UK when he was approached by a scout north of the border.
Hampden scouts had learned that Johnson’s middle name was McLeod and wanted him to switch allegiances if he had any Scottish heritage.
However, Johnson laughed off the approach - before going on to represent England 54 times.
He recalled: “I was playing for England schoolboys when I was 14 or 15 and I got a call out the blue - which I thought was a wind-up.
“I forget who was making the call but he was asking if I was Scottish. I’m laughing and thinking ‘what’s he on about? What part of me is Scottish?’
“But it turns out he thought I was Scottish because of my middle name and he was trying to get me to switch to Scotland schoolboys.
“My middle names are McLeod and Cooper but it comes from my Jamaican grandad.
“I just laughed it off and didn’t take it too seriously.
“There’s not a second of my life I had thought about playing for Scotland - there’s no Scottish blood in me whatsoever.”
