According to reports from camel.live, the national team affiliation of Elliot Anderson—former Newcastle United player, current England international, and Nottingham Forest midfielder—once took a turn due to a fierce collision on the training ground. John Carver, former Scotland assistant coach, revealed that this incident ultimately prevented England from the embarrassment of missing out on the young talent.
In 2023, Anderson was selected for the Scotland national team to prepare for the European Championship qualifier against Cyprus—a match that could have locked him into representing only Scotland in the future. However, during training, he collided with Stewart Armstrong, a former Celtic veteran, leaving the young Anderson feeling significantly uncomfortable.
Carver recalled: “We were just playing a small-sided game, and Elliot and Stewart crashed into each other. I was the referee, and after the session, I thought his reaction was strange. I could tell he was uneasy, but I wasn’t sure if it was because of the environment or because he’d been kicked.”
Shortly after, Anderson took the initiative to talk to Carver. “He came up to me and said, ‘John, can I have a word?’ I could tell he was really uncomfortable, and it might have been because he’s actually English. I told him he needed to talk it through with Steve Clarke, because this was about his future as a young player.”
In the end, Anderson left the Scotland squad. Carver admitted that Scotland had thus lost a top-tier player.
Anderson later chose to play for England and made his debut for the team. Carver said: “I’m happy for Elliot—he’s a local Newcastle lad, and he made his debut for England. His performance was mature and composed; he was fully in control of everything he did on the pitch.”
Now, Anderson has been included in England’s squad and is expected to make his second international appearance in the World Cup qualifier against Serbia. Carver also confessed that the Football Association (FA) had been slow to act at one point, nearly missing out on the young star.
“We knew he was going to be a star, which is why he almost ended up playing for Scotland. England wasn’t doing anything at the time—they came close to missing him.”
