Guardian
‘The Football Association will in future insist that all players named in an England squad report for duty even if their clubs say they are injured. That was Sven-Goran Eriksson's reaction to Manchester United fielding Paul Scholes against Middlesbrough on Tuesday, 24 hours after telling Eriksson that the midfielder was not available for England's friendly with Portugal on Saturday.
The new hard-line approach - which is actually a reversion to an old England exercise - will come into force for the first time before the European Championship qualifier against Slovakia next month.
Eriksson was said to feel "frustrated" by Sir Alex Ferguson's selection of Scholes but the England coach did not speak yesterday and any conflict between England and United, verbal or otherwise, will not centre on a dispute between the two managers if the Swede can help it. They met after Tuesday's game but it was claimed yesterday, somewhat unbelievably, that Eriksson did not raise the issue of Scholes's fitness. It must have been an awkward meeting for both men and it is hard to envisage how the name of Scholes did not surface. However, an FA spokesperson played down any argument, saying it would be "a ding rather than a ding-dong" because of the Swede's passive nature.’