John Carver focused on Scotland games despite Lechia…

John Carver focused on Scotland games despite Lechia Gdansk players' strike threat

JOHN Carver has admitted that he would have preferred to remain in Poland than join up with Scotland for their Nations League play-off games - because his Lechia Gdansk players are threatening to go out on strike.

Carver took over at the Ekstraklasa club back in November and has enjoyed being involved in football on a daily basis since despite the relegation battle which his side are embroiled in.

However, the former Newcastle United, Leeds United and Luton Town assistant has seen unhappiness among the members of his squad grow during his time in charge because they have not been paid in months.

The Englishman confessed that he had wanted to stay in Poland and try to help address off-field unrest when his players threatened to strike over a proposed Lechia trip to Dubai.

“Because of the situation they were in, I would rather have been there with them and trying to get out of this issue,” he said as he looked ahead to the game against Greece in Athens on Thursday night. “But I wasn't going to let Steve [Scotland manager Clarke] down.

“The club knew my position, they knew I was coming here, they knew I'm committed 100 per cent to Scotland at this period in time.

(Image: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire) “Obviously I'll have to keep in touch and find out what's going on about the players on the trip to Dubai. But I'm here and I'm going to concentrate on the situation here. I'll have to deal with the fallout when I get back.

“Once we've finished our last game I'm flying out for one day to be with the squad and then flying back to Gdansk.”

Asked if he thought that he would be kept on by Gdansk after his current contract runs out in May and would be able to commit himself to Scotland during their World Cup qualifying campaign, he said, “To be honest I've stayed away from anything after May.

“I'll make my mind up and the club might make my mind up for me because if they get relegated they might want somebody else. My contract only ends in May. So let's see what happens with regard to that. But for me I'm concentrating on what's happening now here because it can affect this.

“But I am enjoying it. The best thing about it is being on the grass every day. I love that. It's what I want to do. So when the opportunity came up I wasn't going to miss out on it.

“Thankfully, Steve and the staff here were great. They gave me their blessing which was important. But we also got the arrangement and agreement from Gdansk that I could do both jobs so that was very important for me.”

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