Dobie is qualified to play for Berti Vogts' men by way of his Edinburgh-born grandmother. Now the 23-year-old star hopes his high profile first season with West Brom - who could be in the Premiership by tomorrow evening - will catapult him into the international reckoning. Vogts is likely to radically overhaul the Scottish squad after failure to qualify for this year's World Cup Finals in the Far East. Vogts has begun with two defeats against World Champions France and England's World Cup opponents, Nigeria. Dobie, with 13 goals in his first season as a Baggie, is expected to be in the Scotland boss's sights before long and the West Cumbrian star is hoping he will get his chance. "I would love to play for Scotland if I got the chance, " he said. "It is very difficult to get into the England squad as you have to be one of the top Premiership players. Often it depends on which club you are with so there may be more chance of being picked if I was playing in the Premiership." Dobie can make that into a reality tomorrow if he helps his Albion teammates to a home victory over Crystal Palace. West Brom need to at least match Wolves' result at Sheffield Wednesday to clinch promotion. They are one point clear of their Black Country rivals with one game left. Dobie's former Carlisle colleagues Matt Jansen and Rory Delap were this week both picked for their respective countries. Jansen missed out on his England debut when he was hit by a stomach bug just before the friendly international against Paraguay at Anfield whilst Delap came back into the Republic of Ireland team as they defeated the USA. Big clearout expected at Brunton United will be without several players again for the final game of the season this afternoon against Mansfield Town at Field Mill. The Stags need a win and a defeat for rivals Cheltenham at champions Plymouth Argyle to take them up into the Second Division. The game is all-ticket and is expected to sell out the ground. Brendan McGill suffered a knee ligament injury against Cheltenham on Tuesday night that will put him out for 12 weeks. He is likely to have played his last game for the Cumbrians. Steve Soley, Stuart Whitehead and Richie Foran could all be missing. Foran was man of the match against the Chelts but is now a fresh injury doubt. Peter Murphy is suspended and Lee Maddison could again play at left back. After the game the future of at least half the squad will be in immediate doubt. High earners such as Maddison, Mick Galloway and Steve Halliday are expeceted to be released to slash the wage bill. Goalkeeper Luke Weaver is another likely casualty. Players on one-year or one-month contracts such as Mark Winstanley, Dave Rogers and Tony Hopper could all be facing the axe. Any final decisions are unlikely to be taken until a new manager is appointed. John Courtenay is still hopeful of resurrecting his takeover bid and bringing back Roddy Collins but United said this week that there was "no chance" of Collins returning as boss, fuelling speculation that unpopular owner Michael Knighton has decided to stay on. CCUIST launch Knighton Out initiative as summer of discontent looms
Knighton has spent the past three years trying to sell the club to a host of potential buyers and in January 2001 a press conference was called in which it was announced that an unknown Gibraltar-based firm called Mamcarr Investments had bought Mr Knighton's majority shareholding. However that deal collapsed after an investigation by the football authorities and another potential investor, Stephen Brown, as exposed as a conman. Mr Knighton and his wife Rosemary were banned from acting as directors of any UK firm in September 2000. Mr Knighton's ban runs for five and a half years. Thirteen weeks of talks with Irish businessman John Courtenay have failed to produce a deal despite assurances from both men that a final agreement was imminent. At one point a press conference was announced where the final papers would be signed but it was called off just days before it was due. Now Courtenay is taking legal action against Knighton after the current owner claimed he had not produced sufficient evidence of his ability to fund the deal. CCUIST held two demonstrations outside Brunton Park last week to protest against Knighton and are now going to hold a Knighton Out day next Saturday when thousands of posters and banners will be distributed to homes and businesses throughout Carlisle and beyond. Fans are being urged to download A4 posters with the words KNIGHTON OUT and display them in their front windows, car windscreens and post them up on walls and lamp posts. Banners are available for download from the trust website at www.ccuist.org More demonstrations were expected against Knighton and his family today at the Mansfield match with many supporters expected to make a detour to Mr Knighton's wine bar in the Derbyshire town of Ashbourne and make further protests there. Picture from News & Star |
