Sidebar

29
Fri, Mar

Typography
Crewe keeper Clayton Ince has denied reports he has retired from international football, writes Michael Baggaley. Ince, who is out of contract at Crewe, is likely to begin talks on a two-year offer at the Alexandra Stadium next week.


In the mean-time, he has rubbished reports from Trinidad that he resigned from the international squad after being left out of Saturday's World Cup qualifying win against Panama in Port of Spain. Ince said: "The situation is I had some personal problems that I had to sort out and I decided I should step away and take some time to myself before making any decision. I never said I would retire.

"Being left out was never a problem. Every player feels disappointed to be left out of the team when they have been training hard, but only 11 players can be picked.

"It is part of being a professional. It is up to the manager who he picks and you have to accept that."

Ince, who has 61 caps for his country, was replaced by Kelvin Jack on Saturday and Jack is set to keep his place for tonight's World Cup qualifier in Mexico.

Crewe boss Dario Gradi would lose little sleep over the prospect of the keeper dropping out of the international reckoning. Ince impressed after coming back into the Crewe team at the end of last season, but incurred Gradi's wrath after he was unavailable for the Nottingham Forest home game in April following a Trinidad and Tobago game against Costa Rica.