Arsenal transfer ruined my international career – Sir Alex Ferguson revived it

Former Scotland striker Charlie Nicholas’ World Cup hopes were dead in the water until Sir Alex Ferguson came to his rescue.

Nicholas, 62, rose through the ranks at Celtic and won the Scottish Premier Division twice between 1980 and 1983. His impressive 1982/83 season, where he scored 48 goals in 53 appearances, attracted interest from the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan.

The talented forward opted instead to sign for Arsenal in 1983, where he became a hero after scoring two goals against Liverpool in the 1987 League Cup final at Wembley Stadium. Yet his performances for the Gunners between 1983 and 1985 were not considered good enough for him to be selected for Scotland.

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Speaking to Jeff Stelling on the 'Football's Greatest' podcast, the former Sky Sports Soccer Saturday pundit revealed that manager Jock Stein did not select him for the national team. That was because he wanted Nicholas to sign for Liverpool, which boasted Scottish stars such as Graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish.

Stein even refused to travel to London to watch the forward play. And Nicholas would not have made the Scotland squad for the 1986 World Cup if it had not been for Ferguson stepping in when Stein died immediately after an '86 World Cup qualification match.

Nicholas told Stelling as per the Mirror: "[I have] tremendous memories of the World Cup, Jeff. I wasn't anticipating going. Jock Stein had stopped picking me because I'd joined Arsenal [from Celtic in 1983]. He wanted me to join Liverpool.

"We had a discussion. Jock never really came and watched Arsenal, he would never come that far south. So he came to Anfield, and we always watched [Anfield], and he had a word after with me saying I chose the wrong club. And I thought, 'There's nothing I can do about that now!’

"At that time I actually thought I was playing okay. I thought I should still be in the squad, but he just said I was having a bad time and didn't pick me."

Nicholas added: "In 1986, Ferguson took over temporarily. He was Aberdeen manager still but he came to watch me at Aston Villa. He said to me after the game 'I don't know why you've not been in the squad, I hear you're playing well but because we don't see much of you in Scotland everybody thinks the opposite'."

Nicholas featured in two of the three 1986 World Cup group stage matches, playing against Denmark and Uruguay in Mexico. Unfortunately for Scotland, they failed to progress to the knockout rounds, having drawn their final match against Uruguay who were down to ten men and lost their previous two outings.