Alex McLeish has revealed he tried to lure Andy Carroll to play for Scotland while he was national team manager.
The Birmingham boss will come face-to-face with the man mountain on Saturday when they play Liverpool.
Carroll qualifies to play for Scotland through his grandmother who was born in that country but he spurned McLeish's advances and also his successor's Craig Levin.
Liverpool shelled out a British record £35million in January to prise him from Newcastle as a replacement for Fernando Torres.
Carroll has since cemented his international future with England as he opened his account at international level in the friendly against Ghana last month.
"Andy Carroll has come on leaps and bounds and I did try and get him to play for Scotland when I was manager," said McLeish.
"I was aware that he had got Scottish connections through his family. He was 19 at that stage, a reserve player really at Newcastle, and I was quite hot on trying to get him to play for Scotland at that stage.
"But unfortunately he said 'no' and we all know what he has already achieved in his career.
"Certainly since he has gone to Liverpool, he has formed a great partnership with Luis Suarez."
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