O'Neill holds peace key to Fletcher's feud with Scotland boss Levein

O'Neill holds peace key to Fletcher's feud with Scotland boss Levein


Martin O’Nneill has admitted he may be prepared to act as peacemaker in the long-standing dispute between Steven Fletcher and national boss Craig Levein.
The Sunderland striker reiterated his desire to play for Scotland over the weekend via the social networking site Twitter.
Levein has excluded the player from his squads ever since Fletcher told a third party he no longer wanted to be selected for his country.

In form: Steven Fletcher (right) has got off to a great start at Sunderland


Sources close to Levein insist there will be no going back on the position of not selecting the striker during his tenure.
However, O’Neill, who paid £12million to take the player to Wearside, has hinted he would be willing to build bridges between the pair if it meant Fletcher playing for his country.
‘My thoughts are that Steven and the manager have had words in the past,’ said the former Celtic boss.
‘That situation has not cleared up; there may be some intransigence there. God knows. It might need an olive branch along the way. Am I going to provide that? It’s not really my job. I need to know the ins and outs.

Intermediary: Martin O'Neill believes he can help Fletcher if he wants to return to the Scotland squad
I touched on it (being an intermediary) briefly when he was signing here, in a casual conversation with Steven. I have not pursued it any further.
‘If you have a quality player and he is not playing for his country, then it might need looking at.
‘He has used this fortnight to get fitter and, hopefully, we will see the benefit of that.
‘Would I like to see him playing for Scotland? Of course.’
Fletcher has already begun repaying his Scottish-record transfer fee by scoring three times in opening matches against Swansea and Liverpool.
And O’Neill feels such a start will only ease the burden of such a huge price tag.
‘Steven’s first goal (against Swansea), I was right behind it and I didn’t realise until afterwards the difficulty of it,’ said the Northern Irishman.

Tucked away: Fletcher beats Pepe Reina to the ball
‘That will give him confidence. He is a good player. I am not saying he will score 20 goals in a season but, if he does, I will be delighted. It’s been a good start.’
Fletcher’s agent, Scott Fisher, has claimed a third party acting for the SFA suggested a meeting last September to try to resolve the issue, but that the striker’s willingness was not reciprocated.
‘Steven said he was more than happy to meet,’ said Fisher.
‘But there was never a follow-up call from the SFA, nor the third party, to say where and when. It was last year, when Wolves were playing Liverpool at Anfield.’
Fletcher, though, has been criticised by former Scotland international Paul Hartley, now manager of Alloa for using Twitter to state his willingness to play for the national side. Hartley, now manager of Alloa, said: ‘I think it’s up to Steven to make a phone call instead of using Twitter or Facebook.
‘It’s up to Steven to speak to the manager.’

 

selfishly hope he doesn't get picked - more injuries (eg Johnson)

 

When Levine gets sacked hell play for them

 

Kindly hope he does get picked he deserves to