In the Irish Independent yesterday, Steven Reid wrote about his feelings when it came to the sometimes thorny business of English born players playing for Ireland. For him and many others who wore the green, there was never any dilemma.

When Ireland walk out to play England tomorrow, there is no doubt in my mind who I want to win - and it won't be the country I have lived all my life in.

You could offer me anything now - the extra millions I could have earned had I won 23 caps for England rather than Ireland, the offer of leading England out at Wembley - and I'd turn it down.

When a kite was flown last year suggesting that Curtis Davies could be a future Irish prospect, we spoke to Liam George and he briefly referenced Steven Reid's situation.

George, a friend of Davies, said the player was at best conflicted about playing for Ireland and no real affinity for the country. His was technically eligible to play for Ireland but the link was so tenuous as to be comical. His great-grandfather was in the British army during the War of Independence and his daughter (Davies' grandmother) was thus born in Ireland around that time. The family moved back to England very shortly afterwards and had no interaction with this country thereafter.

George argued that it should be incumbent on an English born player of Irish extraction to seek out Ireland rather than have the FAI trawl the English Football League looking for unlikely players who technically qualified for Ireland.

And he instanced Steven Reid as a prime example of someone who actually alerted the FAI of his Irish links - rather than the other way around.

George contrasted the stories of both Davies and Gary Doherty (who did play for Ireland) with that of his own background.