Rangers striker Kyle Lafferty is in hot water on the international stage.
Former Northern Ireland striker Iain Dowie has told BBC Sport that he is backing Michael O’Neill’s decision over Rangers forward Kyle Lafferty.
Lafferty, 31, has been a fixture of the Northern Ireland squad for many years now, and after four goals in 10 games for Rangers this term, he was again called up by his country for games against Austria and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The striker seemingly didn’t feel that he could play though, as he pulled out of the squad last Sunday night, phoning manager Michael O’Neill at midnight to remove himself from the squad.
Many have slammed Lafferty for his conduct, and when manager O’Neill said the situation would be addressed after the international break, we now know what that means.
Northern Ireland have invoked a FIFA rule known as the ‘five-day rule’, meaning that an international team can prevent a player featuring for their club within five days of an international break they pulled out of.
Northern Ireland seemingly believe that Lafferty’s claims of managing an injury aren’t entirely genuine, and he now won’t be available to face Hamilton Academical this weekend.
That’s a blow for Rangers, but Lafferty is now left wondering whether he will make another international appearance again having left O’Neill furious with his decision.
Now, ex-Premier League manager and former Northern Ireland striker Iain Dowie has told BBC Sport that Lafferty needs to have the desire to play for his country, and believes O’Neill has made the right decision in invoking the five-day rule.
“Kyle has done a fantastic job for us, he’s a very important player for Northern Ireland but you’ve got to want play for your country,” said Dowie. “I don’t know what is going on, it may be that he has got a legitimate injury and if he has that’s fine but at the very heart of this you’ve got to want to play for Northern Ireland. No manager would have ever told me ever to pull out of a Northern Ireland squad nor any friend close to me would have even asked me that so I don’t know the full story but if he’s not injured he should have been there.”
“That would tell you something about Michael’s mindset. I think he’s very disappointed. To pull out on the Sunday, I don’t know the full ins and outs of it, but Michael seems a fairly straight, down the line, proper lad who tells you how it is and he’d expect better than that from Kyle but if Kyle has got a genuine injury then fine but they must resolve it between them, they can’t let it fester. I think he’s rightly invoking the five-day rule, I think that’s important, but if he finds out he has got an injury then lets get it sorted and get him back in the squad,” he added.
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