Friday, March 07, 2014
Southgate apologises after FA mix-up
Gareth Southgate has been forced to issue an embarrassing apology after an administrative error by the FA meant Manchester United defender Michael Keane was blocked from playing for England Under 21s against Wales in midweek.
FA officials declared an 'admin error' less than an hour before kick-off on Wednesday at Derby's iPro Stadium because they had registered Michael's twin brother Will, also at United, even though the forward was not meant to be selected for the side.
Michael was subsequently dropped from Southgate’s side, with Nathaniel Chalobah called up to the centre of England’s defence.
Southgate said: 'We had an admin error so Michael wasn’t registered.
'I don’t know exactly why yet, it’s not one I’ve seen before.
'I really feel for the lad because he’s key to what we’re doing. But we adapted to that, with Nathaniel going in, who was very composed, and these are things you’ll face along the way.'It’s important that the team reacted the way that they did and did it so smoothly.
FA officials declared an 'admin error' less than an hour before kick-off on Wednesday at Derby's iPro Stadium because they had registered Michael's twin brother Will, also at United, even though the forward was not meant to be selected for the side.
Michael was subsequently dropped from Southgate’s side, with Nathaniel Chalobah called up to the centre of England’s defence.
Southgate said: 'We had an admin error so Michael wasn’t registered.
'I don’t know exactly why yet, it’s not one I’ve seen before.
'I really feel for the lad because he’s key to what we’re doing. But we adapted to that, with Nathaniel going in, who was very composed, and these are things you’ll face along the way.'It’s important that the team reacted the way that they did and did it so smoothly.
