Why Leeds United's Patrick Bamford should choose Republic of Ireland and what Kalvin Phillips can learn with England - Dominic Matteo

Glenn Hoddle was the one who wanted me to play sweeper for England the way I did for Liverpool.

He had me watched quite a lot and he wanted to play with three at the back with me as sweeper.

I was actually going to play against Columbia, that would have been my debut but Dion Dublin did me in a game against Coventry and I needed eight or nine stitches.

That ruled me out of the game where Higuita did the ‘scorpion kick’ so I was sat watching it with Gazza who was also injured.

At that point I’d had experience of being around the England squad and there were a few big hitters, like Alan Shearer, David Seaman, Stuart Pearce. It was daunting, as a young lad, but I was in there with a few Liverpool players, Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman, lads I knew.

I was on the bench again for the Switzerland game but didn’t get on.

I thought it was a matter of time before I got my opportunity but not getting on against Switzerland put a doubt in my mind and then I got a phone call from Craig Brown the Scotland manager.

He’d heard that I originally wanted to play for Scotland, which was the original plan.

As a young player no one really asked me about Scotland, I came through the youth system playing for England’s age group teams so everyone just thought I was English. But, obviously, I was born in Scotland.

My dad was always asking me when I was going to play for Scotland.

Craig had done a bit of research and I got my opportunity. I didn’t get many games because I went through so many injuries and had to pull out of so many squads.

I didn’t really train much, I loved it but I didn’t do much of it because I was always injured or trying to recover. When I was around the England or Scotland squads I loved it, though, being around the lads.

Training with players like Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Shearer, it was a different level and you had to be at it. Those players were a lot better than me and I would just talk to people, ask them about their careers, take any little thing I could from them that would help me.

I’m sure Kalvin Phillips will be going through a similar thing and it only helps your progression.

His opportunity was thoroughly deserved and he hasn’t looked out of place. In Jordan Henderson he’s got a shining example and he can look at everything Jordan does, the way he speaks, what he says. Kalvin can learn a lot from being in and around the England set-up and his next challenge is to get into the team regularly. He’s got to have the attitude that he’s good enough to be in the team and that being on the bench isn’t good enough.

With the Scotland team we had a great set of lads, Paul Dickov, Barry Ferguson, my room-mate Don Hutchinson, Billy Dodds, Neil McCann, some real characters. I loved it.

When Berti Vogts was the manager I was struggling to keep fit and I phoned him to explain that I had a decision to make, it was the right thing for me to stop and although I took a lot of flak for it from various people over the years, it was what I had to do to keep playing for Leeds.

Liam Cooper is getting his chance now with Scotland and a big part of that is thanks to how much he’s improved under Marcelo Bielsa. He’s cut out a lot of the mistakes, mistakes I can remember making myself and he’s become a top player.

There’s still time for him to make maybe 30 appearances for his country, which would be fantastic and much more than I got. No one would be happier for him than me, I’ve watched his career closely and he’s sent me some supportive messages when I was struggling a little bit.

It’s frustrating that he’s picked up this injury because he’s a big loss. He’s got better with age. That’s something players today seem to be able to do that I couldn’t – it was the other way round for me, but they’re getting fitter and stronger and better as they age.

Patrick Bamford at 27 is still at a decent age but when it comes to international football, I believe he should go and play for Ireland.

If you look at who is in front of him, Harry Kane is the main one, Dominic Calvert-Lewin has come in, Danny Ings is in there and causes teams a lot of problems, so I think going and getting games for Ireland would give him a good journey.

Looking at Scotland, Wales and Ireland, there are young players getting opportunities, game time and experience.

Bamford is definitely good enough for Ireland and while I wouldn’t rule him out for England, looking at the bigger picture there might be more of an opportunity in a green shirt.

The Irish coaching team are all great people and I’m sure they could help improve him.

I got a bit of experience and I loved it.

Patrick has a chance to join Kalvin and Liam in getting something similar.

Dominic Matteo's column is in association with Data Facilities