Former Spurs assistant recalls amusing Irish tale

‍There was a bit of confusion about a young Tottenham players heritage with his surname getting him a call up for a country that his family never came from according to an article on talkSPORT.

Ted Buxton the former assistant and chief scout to Terry Venables at Tottenham and England, has recalled a humorous incident while at Spurs, involving the Republic of Ireland selecting one of the club’s young players from the under-18 side, Chris Kinnear.

Kinnear was a first year professional at Tottenham, and Maurice Setters, who was Jack Charlton’s number two for the Republic, asked Buxton if he could inform the youngster he’d been picked to represent Eire.

But when told he’d been selected for the under-18 team instead of being delighted or excited the article says , Kinnear queried, “Where’s Eire?”
“That’s Ireland. You must have Irish blood if you’ve been picked for Ireland,” said Buxton.

“I didn’t know that,” a perplexed Kinnear responded.

Buxton asked Kinnear to check out his family history – in the hope of finding a grandparent or long lost family member from Ireland and young Kinnear returned to Buxton’s office with an update.
“My mum’s gone back to the 1800s and we can’t find any Irish heritage.”

The article adds that Buxton phoned Setters to find out exactly why Kinnear had been chosen when it was clear there was no Irish blood running through his veins.
Setters’ response on the phone, after telling Charlton next to him that “the boy’s not Irish”, was simple: “With a name like Kinnear he must be”.

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