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Scott McTominay capped a fine breakthrough season at Old Trafford by making his international debut last month in Scotland’s one-nil defeat to Costa Rica. The young midfielder, 21, has impressed fans this season with his combative approach complimented by tidy passing skills.

McTominay was born in Lancashire to an English mother and Scottish father. He was eligible to play for either country. Much was made of McTominay’s decision to reject Gareth Southgate’s request to declare for England and instead opt to play for Scotland, the homeland of his father.

McTominay broke into Manchester United’s first team this season, making 11 appearances thus far. His performances have warranted praise from fans, pundits and even team mates. In an recent interview, Ander Hererra praised the versatility of the midfielder.

“He’s a team player and he can help in any position you put him. You saw against Chelsea he was a little more defensive and almost doing the job I did against [Eden] Hazard last season. He can be more offensive as well and he presses a lot.”

It was widely reported that McTominay initially rejected an approach to feature in Scotland’s friendly against the Netherlands back in November. However recent reports suggest that this was purely down to the player’s determination to establish himself in the Manchester United team.

According to Frank McTominay, Scott’s grandfather, both Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho “were both quite keen” on the talented youngster to play for Scotland.

Govan-born Ferguson was manager of United when McTominay was offered his first professional contract at 16. Frank McTominay attests that his grandson enjoys a close relationship with the legendary manager and that Ferguson ‘made sure’ the contract was extended when McTominay reached 18.

The influence of two of the most successful football managers of modern times aside, Scotland manager Alex McLeish played an important role and was delighted with the midfielder’s decision.

“Yeah I felt very chuffed with myself with that one. I did a lot of travelling that night to get to Manchester. I said, ‘Listen I’m not forcing it down your throat’ … (and) he said ‘I want to play for Scotland'”

McLeish rightly remarks that the 21-year-old is far from the finished article; “He’s not got all the answers. He’s 21. He’s a young guy learning the game and we have to be patient with young guys.”

Time will tell if McTominay will regret his decision not to play for England but the patience and opportunity that McLeish could offer was too good to turn down. The Tartan Army will not feature at the World Cup in Russia this year and McLeish has time on his side to assemble a new-look Scotland side.

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McTominay  – who Transfermarkt value at £6.3million – could be at the heart of that side for the next decade and that experience will aid his development at club level too. That can only be a good thing for the youngster, Scotland and the Red Devils.

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Look at the best leagues in Europe – the ‘big five’. You have the Premier League, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1. They are the leagues that produce the most Champions League teams and definitely stand out as the best standard of football. (You may question the inclusion of France but it is improving, and still probably deserves its place above Holland and Portugal).

But let’s look closer at these leagues, and the competition within them.

Bayern Munich are as good as champions in Germany. They are so dominant that they are pretty much just using their league games as warm-ups for their assault on the Champions League. Wolfsburg, Bayern’s nearest competitors given the fall of Dortmund this season, lost at the weekend, and are now nine points behind the Bavarians.

Juventus are in a very similar boat in Italy. Roma could only draw with Chievo this weekend and so the Old Lady is sitting pretty. Juve are eight points clear of the teams behind, and a win tonight would put them 11 points to the good.

The Premier League is going a similar way to the others. Chelsea are reigning supreme, five points clear of Manchester City with a game in hand. That game in hand doesn’t come until late in April, but it is against lowly Leicester and Man City will need to pick up the pace very quickly if they are to catch up.

La Liga is more interesting, but settling back into the familiar pattern of a Classico duel after last season’s surprise win for Atletico Madrid. Barcelona are a point clear, capitalising on Real Madrid’s defeat in Bilbao on Saturday by winning 6-1 at home to Rayo Vallecano. It’s what we’ve come to expect – when the top two lose it’s a surprise, and they’ll run away with it again.

It is in France, surprisingly, where the most exciting race of the ‘top five’ is happening. Lyon top the table by a point from Paris Saint-Germain. Marseille are still only three points behind, and then Monaco are looking to close the gap to seven points by winning their game in hand against Montpellier. You do still feel that if PSG can put a run of wins together they will pull away from the rest, however. Their squad is so much better than the rest.

But now look at the Championship! Just look how tight it is!

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It is often said that the Championship is the hardest league in the world. It is notoriously difficult to play your own passing game with physical defenders hassling and harrying, and every team can beat any other team on a given day. Reputations tend to count for nothing.

But it is never usually this tight! The top seven teams are separated by only five points. Literally any one of them could win the league if they put a run together. Any two could gain automatic promotion, and at one of those teams will be very disappointed come May as they will have missed out on a play-off spot too.

The Championship is a second division, though. A ‘lower league’. So of course the standard of football is going to be lower in this league than in the top European leagues. And it isn’t just full of former Premier League clubs and ‘sleeping giants’, there are also teams like Rotherham (not to mention Bournemouth and Brentford, who are part of that group of teams challenging for the title!) who are more used to divisions lower than the second tier.

This is reflected in the average attendances. The average attendance across the whole league is just 14,808. Now this isn’t staggeringly low. Most Championship grounds hold fewer fans than Premier League grounds for example, and some are quite low capacity. But there are some grounds only half full some weeks.

This makes sense at clubs like Blackburn and Leeds, big clubs with a Premier League set-up who have been languishing below the big time and show no signs of coming back up.

But a more worrying reason for this is the ticket prices.

We hear every year that it costs less to watch Bayern Munich or Barcelona every week than it does to watch English teams. The average season ticket price in the Championship this season is £342.70. This is actually down from previous seasons

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But it still only costs £104 to buy a season ticket to see Bayern Munich.

As quoted in the Daily Mail, Uli Hoeness said in May 2013: “We could charge more than £104. Let’s say we charged £300. We’d get £2m more in income but what’s £2m to us? In a transfer discussion you argue about that sum for five minutes.”

This isn’t true for Championship clubs, of course, but the fact that watching Robben, Muller and co. each week is so much cheaper than watching Championship games is food for thought. Admittedly, though, this does sound a little strange coming from Hoeness given that he was sentenced to three years in prison last year for tax fraud. He doesn’t exactly look like a true ‘man of the people’ just now. But he said back then was right.

But England has a league that is unrivalled in Europe for passion and excitement. Surely this has to be one of the metrics of how we measure the best league in the world? And surely it makes sense to advertise this by lowering ticket prices, putting it on TV more and showing the world why the Championship really is one of the top leagues in the world.

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Earlier this season, the footballing world paid due notice to the tenth anniversary of Wayne Rooney’s wonder-goal against Arsenal that ended The Invincibles’ undefeated Premier League record, and also propelled the Merseyside youngster to instant fame.

Since then, Rooney’s career has only moved forward, and his £25million move to Manchester United back in 2004 signified that the former Everton man would be a future star for club and country. But, I would argue, at least over recent seasons, it’s not perhaps in the style and manner many predicted when seeing his unforgettable strike for the Gunners for the first time in 2002. There’s been a growing debate over how the striker should be utilised, and pundits, fans and even Sir Alex Ferguson have criticised a lack of goals in sporadic periods over his career.

But are these criticisms justified? The England man has 139 league goals in 269 appearances for Manchester United including 27 last season alone – a record which should not be readily dismissed. However, there is some understandable concern. For all of his abilities, you get the feeling Rooney could still be scoring more, and on a more regular basis. Furthermore, his form for England has often left a lot to be desired.

The international game can be somewhat harder – you’re less familiar with your own team-mates, you may be playing in conditions away from home or in tournaments that you’re not well acclimatised to, and you have the weight of the expectations of a whole nation on your shoulders. But from a player who is considered one of the best attackers in the Premier League, who is arguably the star of the Three Lions Starting XI and who often shows off his brilliance for his club, is 33 goals in 79 appearances, not to mention some lacklustre performances at the same time, what you’d expect from the likes of Wayne Rooney?

So far in this article, I’ve avoided using a particular pseudonym. That pseudonym is “striker”, and additionally even the terms “forward” or “attacking midfielder” could be equally as inappropriate, which in many ways is the exact point I wish to make. Just last week, it was reported that Wayne Rooney had handed over penalty duty to team-mate Robin van Persie. Although some fans criticised the decision, stating that the England man had thrown away his chances of winning this year’s Premier League golden boot, and others believed it showed his professionalism and selflessness, I have a slightly different hypothesis.

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The reason Rooney handed over his penalty-taking role so readily and quickly is because scoring goals is not his main concern. This is not a phenomenon which I believe applies to this season directly now that van Persie has taken over as the man at the spearhead of the United attack, but over his whole career. I’ve watched him for many years now, I’ve seen him in interviews and even read short extracts from his rather dodgy autobiography, and he does not come across as a natural born striker, a footballer who lives for the rush of glory when the ball sends ripples through the back of the net, but simply a footballer who loves to play football.

It’s the same reason that Sir Alex Ferguson willingly set up against Real Madrid in the Champions League last week with arguably his biggest attacking threat playing out wide and spending most of the game keeping tabs on Cristiano Ronaldo rather than looking to get forward and penetrate the La Liga side’s defence.

Similarly, throughout Rooney’s career, he’s been placed deeper and deeper into the Manchester United midfield, and without the ball he often operates as a screener for the two deeper-lying central-midfielders. There’s even been a suggestion that he should be trusted to start a game in the middle of the park, a position in which Sir Alex Ferguson has deployed him from the bench on occasion over the past few years.

Some fans may view it as a waste – removing a man who has such ability in front of goal in terms of technique, movement and creativity from the area of the pitch that is easiest to score in does seem a rather odd move. But in my opinion, Rooney would be a dominant force in any position that he’s utilised in. It’s not his strength or his ability, but simply his attitude, his love for football, that makes me believe he can play anywhere on the pitch. It’s not unusual to find him covering for a full-back or even clearing off the line, which although may not be necessarily what you want from a striker, but as a single player in a team of eleven, it’s a fantastic characteristic for those playing alongside him.

And in many ways, it’s also an explanation for why Rooney is judged to be underperforming for the Three Lions. The fact of the matter is that he’s been playing out of position for arguably his whole international career. But playing him in his more favourable position at the tip of the midfield would only add further complications to the Gerrard/Lampard paradox which is why it’s never been considered an option by Roy Hodgson and his predecessors.

I feel the debate over Wayne Rooney will always live on. This season, he’s netted ten times in eighteen appearances. But whenever his goal-scoring form dries up, the questions yet again emerge why he’s not challenging for the golden boot year after year. Well, my answer is simple. He’s not a goal-scorer, he’s a footballer.

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He’s the kid on the playground who runs rings around his school-mates and can’t be tackled, he’s the boy in the street who spends hours trying to hit the light on the lamp-post, and he’s the young lad in the park who makes last-ditch challenges – grazing his knees and muddying his trousers in the process.

Some will always remain unconvinced. Arsene Wenger recently commented that he personally would prefer to use Rooney as a striker. So I will leave you with a simple comparison. Whom does Wayne Rooney most remind you of? Paul Gascoigne or Alan Shearer? Zinadine Zidane or Michael Owen? Ronaldinho or Ronaldo? He’s a footballer, not a striker, or a midfielder, or a defender. He’s just a footballer, in the purest sense of the word.

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Celtic are one win away from the Scottish Premiership title after a 2-1 victory away to Hamilton Academical on Sunday.

The Hoops were again below the standards they have previously set under Brendan Rodgers but managed to dig out the three points to put themselves on the verge of a seventh successive title.

Brendan Rodgers’ side went ahead thanks to Callum McGregor before being pegged back by Rakish Bingham.

After the interval though it was substitute Leigh Griffiths who wasted no time in making a big impact, netting in the 46th minute to give Celtic a lead that they would hold onto for the win.

Supporters were delighted with Griffiths’ impact, with many believing he should be starting matches rather than coming off the bench.

Now he’s getting back to full fitness after a couple of months out, he’ll be eager to stake a claim as Rodgers’ number one striker.

The Scotland international is also closing in on scoring a milestone 100 career goals for the club, which would make him the first forward at the Hoops to do so since John Hartson.

Should he start next week’s massive semi-final vs Rangers?

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Fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts…

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During the tail-end of last season and the following summer, the St. Mary’s faithful saw their collective of popular names, from Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw to Mauricio Pochettino, become linked with high-profile moves away from the Saints.

Such promising form in the 2013/14 Premier League season sent shock waves around the rest of England’s footballing community, fuelling transfer stories and the next crazy money rumour ready to do the rounds. Whilst the last thing Southampton fans would want is for their current crop of stars to be similarly linked away from St. Mary’s, Ronald Koeman’s impressive start to life as Southampton boss seems to have done just that.

Koeman has been linked with a prestigious move back to the Barcelona by the Mail, a club that he once captained. As this is a move that would certainly be welcomed by the Dutchman, could such a dramatic deal really happen? And what would life be like for Southampton without their enigmatic leader?

What makes this story so believable is the affection that Koeman is held in around the Camp Nou. The former Feyenoord boss is just as much, if not more, of a favourite at Barcelona than he currently is with the Saints and an offer to return to Catalonia would be too good for almost any manager to turn down. Although half a season in the Premier League may seem like too short a time period to really get to know a manager, in today’s fickle footballing world, a half a season is often all it takes to seal an illustrious move to greater pastures.

The reported bust-ups with current Barcelona boss Luis Enrique and several of his main stars – most notably Lionel Messi – has helped add fuel to the Koeman fire. While there remain few concrete details about the supposed tension in the Barcelona camp, and there is always a certain amount of gossip around such things, the seed has nonetheless been planted regarding a managerial change at the Nou Camp.

However, The Daily Mail also reported that Koeman denied he will be making an immediate return to La Liga. Southampton’s Champions League push is thought to be at the forefront of his mind right now, and if the Saints can achieve the impossible and qualify for Europe’s most sought-after competition, the Dutch boss would be mad to leave a team that are so clearly on the up. They have defied all odds so far this season, and whilst several of the players and backroom staff were in place before their new manager’s arrival, Ronald Koeman deserves a huge share of the credit.

If the worst were to happen to Southampton however, and their main man leave for the glory of Barcelona, the South Coast side could be in a tough spot of bother to say the very least. Koeman is largely responsible for the new signings brought into the club, and if the likes of Graziano Pelle were ready to jump ship with him once already, who’s to say that their ties to the Dutchman wouldn’t give them reason to make another similar move in the future.

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Ultimately the situation with Ronald Koeman, despite the seeming immediacy of the reports linking him to Barcelona, remains very much up in the air at this current stage. It swings on several different factors, with Southampton and Barcelona’s league form for the rest of the 2014/15 season likely to prove a major deciding factor.

Whilst a move away from St. Mary’s would certainly seem premature this season, if Ronald Koeman goes on to continue his impressive start to life in the Premier League, a move back to Barcelona would simply become inevitable, however harsh that seems on the Southampton faithful.

Premier League outfit West Ham United hope to re-sign Joe Cole in time for their FA cup clash against Manchester United, according to the Daily Mail.

With fellow league and London rivals QPR hot on his tail, Cole will have a difficult choice deciding whether to re-join the Hammers or be reunited with his first Premier League manager Harry Redknapp.

Since leaving Chelsea the player has had a tough time finding his feet, with an unsuccessful move to Liverpool and a fleeting Ligue 1 career on-loan to Lille last season.

Returning to Anfield after his French endeavour, Cole tried ardently to force his way into Brendan Rodgers plans, an attempt that has thus far been in vain.

Cole currently has 18-months left to run on his contract and it is believed that the player and Liverpool are in the midst of agreeing a severance package for his £90,000 weekly contract.

Redknapp however will provide the Irons with a little competition for Cole’s signature.

“I’ve got a lot of time for Joe as a player and as a person,’ he said.

“I’d like to bring Joe here if I can but the deal would have to be right for the club.

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“I’ll have to speak to Brendan Rodgers. We’ll have a chat when the time’s right,” he stated.

Everton fans are absolutely adamant they don’t want to move for Phil Jones this summer, after odds were slashed on the 26 year-old moving to Goodison.

Phil Jones is likely to leave Manchester United this summer, and the bookmakers have Everton as second favourites for the English international at 5/2.

Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelof and Chris Smalling are all now ahead of Jones in the Old Trafford pecking order, and reports suggest Jose Mourinho will sign another centre-back this summer.

According to Oddschecker, 84% of all bets on the 26 year-old’s next club are on Everton, suggesting the odds could be cut even more in the coming weeks.

There is a history with Sam Allardyce as well; the Everton manager gave Jones his first breakthrough in football when the pair were at Blackburn.

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Everton have had some woeful defensive displays this season, and fans have not been particularly impressed by the signing of Michael Keane or the performances of Ashley Williams, but they are adamant they don’t want Jones.

Some of the best Twitter reactions can be found below…

Nigel Pearson’s Leicester City currently sit bottom of the Premier League table with just 10 points from a possible 45. Since Pearson took over for his second spell at the club in November 2011, he has no doubt been a major success story at the King Power Stadium. But after such a poor start to life back in the top-tier, should Leicester make the bold decision to part company with Pearson sooner rather than later?

Despite a very respectable start with back-to-back wins over Stoke City and Manchester United respectively, things have gone downhill pretty drastically at Leicester. When the Foxes followed up their impressive 1-0 away win over Stoke, with the incredible comeback win against Manchester United a week later, it looked as though Pearson’s side were more than capable of holding their own at this level.

But after a dire run of eight defeats in 10 Premier League games since, the Foxes have hit rock bottom of the league table – four points off safety. It’s always hard for a team that are so used to winning games in the Championship, to move up a level and start losing matches more often than not. The last two Championship winners – Reading and Cardiff City – have found the Premier League just too hard to cope with and have been relegated at the first time of asking.

Since Pearson took over at Leicester for a second time, he has undoubtedly improved the squad and indeed the style of football. In his three years back at the club, Leicester finished ninth then fourth, before winning the Championship title last season. After the heartache of losing the 2013 play-off semi-final to Watford in dramatic fashion, Leicester were by far the Championship’s best side last year and deserved to finally get back to the Premier League after a 10-year absence.

But we all know just how vicious England’s top-tier can be. Sometimes sacking the manager isn’t the right the thing to do. Last season, all three relegated clubs sacked their managers at some point in the campaign. It’s certainly a difficult decision for any chairman to make, especially when a manager has done as well as Pearson has over the years at Leicester.

Unfortunately for Pearson, it looks as though some of the fans are running out of patience. The Leicester boss recently had a run-in with a supporter after the Foxes 3-1 home defeat to Liverpool last week. Pearson allegedly swore at the fan after a heated exchange of words. The Leicester fan was said to have criticised the team performance after the loss.

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As we touched on earlier, there is no doubt that Pearson has done a terrific job at the King Power Stadium. He got his side playing very expansive football, and made them very hard to beat. But after such a poor start to life back in the Premier League, maybe he has taken them as far as he possibly can – and maybe the Leicester chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha should pull the plug while he has the chance.

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Norwich’s 11 unbeaten league run came to a shuddering halt after Romelu Lukaku’s late goal snatched victory for West Brom at the Hawthorns.

Chris Hughton’s men hadn’t tasted defeat in the Premier League since losing to Chelsea at the start of October and, despite taking the lead, were undone by a late fightback from the home side.

The Baggies, who’ve stuttered of late losing three of their last four games, secured a vital three points that keeps them in contention for a surprise top-four finish heading into Christmas.

Despite having to defend resolutely as the Canaries opted to patiently keep possession Steve Clarke’s side soon got into their groove went close through a Lukaku header in the second minute.

The on-loan Belgium striker was the last player to score for West Brom over five hours ago and wasted another decent chance when shooting straight at goalkeeper Mark Bunn.

And those missed chances came back to haunt the hosts in the 23rd minute when Robert Snodgrass curled a free kick from the right into the top corner despite Ben Foster’s best efforts to keep it out.

Going behind energised the home side somewhat and Gareth McAuley was denied by Bunn from a corner, while Goran Popov lashed wide before they finally forced an equaliser to end their goal drought.

Chris Brunt’s corner was met by Jonas Olsson and when his header came back off the bar Zoltan Gera was on hand to volley the rebound into the net to level the game two minutes before the break.

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Norwich came back out fighting in the second half and Michael Turner went close with a header after meeting Snodgrass’ cross, while Peter Odemwingie drilled a low free kick wide at the other end.

With the contest finely poised Lukaku stepped up to win it for Albion, beating Javier Garrido to Popov’s cross and head past Bunn from eight yards.

Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez has opted against pledging his future to the club, according to The Shield’s Gazette.

What’s the latest?

The Spaniard penned a three-year contract when he took over from Steve McClaren in March 2016.

The former Liverpool and Real Madrid boss was unable to keep the North-East outfit in the top flight.

However, he guided them straight back to the promised land by winning the Championship in the following season.

The club find themselves in another difficult position as they try to avoid relegation, but their campaign will be helped by Saturday afternoon’s 3-0 victory over Southampton.

According to The Shield’s Gazette, prior to the match, the manager spoke about his future and seemed rather coy with regards to the possibility of staying.

“Let me finish, let me do well, let us stay in the Premier League and then we can talk about the future.”

Should Benitez commit to Newcastle?

Not until the ownership situation is resolved.

In October, current club owner Mike Ashley put the club up for sale, much to the delight of the fans, who have had a tense relationship with the businessman.

However, the Sports Direct tycoon is yet to strike a deal with any interested parties, which leaves the club in limbo.

Benitez has been public about his frustrations during the transfer windows, and that could continue if Ashley remains at the helm.

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While fans will be disappointed by the Spaniard’s comments, they should understand that it would make no sense for him to pledge his future when so many things are uncertain.

The Magpies are five points above the relegation zone with eight games left to play.

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