Gary Hooper - 'Club comes before Country'

Well in Hoops !

 

Great news for him and if Pearce selects his strongest side then Hooper should be paired up top with Sturridge from the start but since its his first cap who knows. If he does well then I can see him getting a call up for the senior side soon because of Pearce's affiliation with the full England set-up and our future reinstatement to the Champions League. Just a pity it wont be for Scotland that he wins his caps.

He qualifies to play for the U21s because he 21 or under at the start of the qualifying campaign for this summers under-21 European Championship.

 

Excellent for Hooper. I can see the point in calling him up to the U21's first, it gives them a chance to have a look at him, wouldve made just as much sense to call him up for a international friendly for the senior team.

 

I'll try explain my theory on this.

I think they called him up for the U21's because they actualy might see a future with him playing in the first team. Having him in the U21 squad and lets say he plays they get a real good look at his talents and how he could fit in with an England squad.

Calling him up to the first team now IMO wouldnt be wise as I dont think he would get a game and if he did I wouldnt say the majority of the England fans would know too much about him and be skeptical and since they havent seen him play I suppose you cant blame their * given right to high standards.

So let the media make a fuss of this young Celtic striker who's made his way into an U21 sqaud alongside Sturridge, Smalling etc. and people will take notice and hopefuly Hooper will get a full english cap.

 

Well done Hooper.

 

The under-21's have a decent strikeforce too so its shows how good Hooper is that he got called up. Well in Hooper

 

It makes one wonder back in the days when they played for U-15 and U-16 teams if the guy that got slagged for looking like he was 27 actually was 27 lol :icon_mrgreen:

Strange rule but glad for Hooper anyway. England U-21's are not to be looked at lightly. Deserves his call up.

 

good on hoops although i dont like england at any sports whatsoever i want him to do well

 

Capello wants hooper to get used to the National setup before just throwing him in, he made that mistake with bothroyd

 

Think you are aloud 2 or 3 over 21s in the team. Remember James Milner playing for under 21s in the European champs or wc and commentator saying this.

 

It would exciting for me if i had never played for scotland and went to a new team and got a call up its a start and give massive confidence that he is going in right direction , To be a full international if he shows what we know he can ,

Well done hoops .

 

Nice one

 

The rule is, if he was 21 when the qualifying started for the current competition (u21 euro champs) then he is eligible.

Well done all the same

 

well done hooper

 

it's a compliment to the club and players that an english international manager is giving an spl team the light of day, defoe is had a shocker this season and a think they got their eye on hoops and want to see more of him at close hand

 

Capello is said to be really interested in Hoops and wants to see how he does in U-21's to see if he has what it takes to take step up into the full england squad. hope he does well - might hate the english doing well in sports but if hooper is playing i'd always look out and hope he done well for them.

 

Hooper would score the same aount of goals in the prem as he has here and I think with Capello not having that "English superiority complex" sorry to all our English bhoys but its true, English people think they're the best at football..........tell ye a secret....ye're not anyway back to my point Capello can spot a talent when he see's one and this guy has proved himself in the Championship and is now proving himself against a stubborn Rangers defence. Lets not forget Rangers got a 0 - 0 draw in Eindhoven against the Dutch League leaders and a 0 - 0 against Manu and Hooper along with everyone else in our fantastic team blitzed them. Lets just wait and see, this is a bit of a double edged sword though. On one hand i gives the bhy great confidence but on the other hand the dirty Prem vultures will be sniffing around.........* OFF!! Hoops is our player :icon_mrgreen:

 

Good man H88PS! Delighted for his England call up, hope he has a huge Career with them and Celtic

THERE aren’t too many former Scunthorpe United players who’ve enjoyed representative honours for England. In saying that, there aren’t too many Celtic players who’ve done so either.

Current first-team coach, Alan Thompson, gained his one and only England cap during his time with the Hoops, though it was scant reward for a player who impressed in Scotland and throughout Europe over many seasons.

Now, Gary Hooper, Celtic’s summer signing from Scunthorpe, is taking his first tentative steps into international football with a call-up to England’s Under-21 squad.

Stuart Pearce’s side have two friendly matches against Denmark and Iceland, and the Celtic striker, with 15 goals to his name already this season, is part of a 31-man squad.

Despite being 23, Hooper qualifies for the squad as he was under 21 at the start of England's qualifying campaign.

And the striker is delighted that his form with the Hoops has been recognised by his country.

“To be fair, it’s the performance of the whole team which has helped me out and it’s given me the chances to score the goals,” Hooper said.

“It’s my first England call-up and I’m looking forward to it when it comes. It will be very special. It will be very good for the family, and I’m very excited about it.

“But obviously we’ve got some important games coming up, starting with the Scottish Cup tie tomorrow night.”

The good news for Celtic fans is that Hooper is fighting fit and ready for action if called upon tomorrow night (Wednesday, March 16) against Inverness Caley Thistle in the quarter-final of the Scottish Cup.

There was frustration amongst the Celtic squad at the weekend when the game was postponed, but they’ve been preparing well over the past couple of days for what is sure to be a difficult match in the Highlands.

“It’s going to be very tough, especially going up there for a midweek game,” Hooper said. “They’ll be up for it, but we’ve just got to play the way we can and do everything we can to win the game.

“The main thing is winning tomorrow night’s game and then our focus will be on Sunday. We’re not looking any further ahead than that.”

Celtic Football Club