Mourinho influential in Scotland scoring McTominay

According to former Scotland boss Craig Brown, Jose Mourinho was instrumental in swaying Scott McTominay in the direction of Scotland. Born in Lancaster, the 21-year-old is eligible to represent Scotland internationally through his grandparents and has opted to join the Scottish team in lieu of representing England.

Brown said that he: ''read somewhere Sir Alex Ferguson was influential in McTominay's decision but the most likely guy will have been Jose Mourinho,'' Given that the Manchester United manager ''did his coaching badges at Largs and loved his time there,'' Mourinho retained a strong affinity for Scotland and may well have been the one to encourage McTominay to pursue an international career there.

Brown certainly thinks so, ''When he started at Chelsea I was at Derby and I met him at a reserve game, I was watching the game with the Derby reserve team and I said to him, 'Don't you think you can come to England and beat Alex Ferguson.' Mourinho replied, 'No chance, it's not him or the Scottish I want to beat - it's the English.''

Brown went on to say that he believes Mourinho would be supportive of the young midfielder playing for Scotland. He adds that: "It's a massive coup for Alex [McLeish] to land McTominay for Scotland. Pipping England to get a player is just like beating them in a game."