‘Some random fella from Co Down’: Jason McAteer reveals how he got his Irish passport via a chosen ‘grandad’

Ireland's Jason McAteer celebrates after scoring against the Netherlands in a World Cup qualifier at Lansdowne Road back in 2001

Jason McAteer has said he was told by an FAI official to “pick a random name” from a list of possible Irish great-grandparents to allow him get an Irish passport after association officials were unable to find his formal link to Ireland.

Liverpool native McAteer was at Bolton Wanderers when he was scouted by Jack Charlton in 1994 and the Ireland boss was keen for the winger to explore his Irish roots to prove his qualification and establish his eligibility in time for the World Cup finals, a time when England were also offering him a call-up to their B team as well as Bolton teammate Alan Stubbs.

McAteer, who said he had never been to Ireland before his debut in ‘94, had maintained that his paternal grandfather was from Co Down and he was able to get the paperwork needed for a passport.

In his 2016 autobiography, McAteer had said that after he accepted Charlton’s offer of a place in the squad for a pre-World Cup friendly at home to Russia, he was told “someone from the FAI will be in touch regarding my passport, they’ll need to know my grandad’s name and where in Co Down he was born, they will sort the passport and all the clearance needed for me to play against the Russians”.

But speaking on the Under The Cosh podcast, McAteer has suggested that the link was back another generation.

At the time, England scout Jimmy Armfield was making approaches on behalf of the English FA while Charlton made a bid to bring McAteer into the Ireland fold.

"He (Bolton boss Bruce Rioch) said to me, is there anyone in your family who’s Irish? I said, I’ll have to go home and ask my mum and dad, I don’t think