Boyd qualifies through his Scottish-born grandfather

Richard Gough believes Englishman George Boyd should not be given the chance to play for Scotland.

The former Scotland skipper, capped 61 times, was born in Stockholm with a Scottish father and Swedish mother, then brought up in South Africa.

But he said: "I think it should go back one generation. I think your grandfather is taking it a bit far."

Peterborough winger Boyd, from Chatham in Kent, is eligible through his Motherwell-born grandfather.

But the 23-year-old had not set foot in Scotland until Tuesday when he turned up to meet his Scotland team-mates ahead of the B international with Northern Ireland at Broadwood.

"I'm a good one to ask about that seeing that I was born in Sweden," added Gough, who had spells with Dundee United, Tottenham and Rangers.

"But my father would have shot me if I had played for Sweden.

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"I came to Scotland at 15 or 16, I grew up as a Rangers fan and the Scottish thing was ingrained in me.

"If you go back more than one generation, you get into that Irish thing of having a pint of Guinness and you can play, like they did.

"They did have a decent team when they did that but I think it is taking it too far.

"It's not, 'I'm only playing for Scotland because England hasn't picked me' sort of thing - I don't think that's right."

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