I SPEND a lot of time in England, and Scottish football often seems very far away from the public conscience, which I think is wrong.

We have the situation at the moment where Fraser Forster has been touted to start for England in their two World Cup qualifiers against Montenegro and Poland in the coming days, but it looks like Joe Hart is going to get the nod from boss Roy Hodgson once again.

I think Fraser has deserved his chance before now and the fact that Joe is going through a bad run at present underlines that. Fraser has performed at the highest level in club football, but he can't get into the national team.

Like John Ruddy, the former Motherwell keeper who is now at Norwich, he is untested at international level.

In friendly matches, England have tended not to give their goalkeepers a chance and rotated the squad to see what they are made of.

Scotland, for example, have looked at both David Marshall and Matt Gilks, but England have stuck with Hart.

I am pretty convinced that if Fraser was playing for any English Premier League side just now, he would have had his chance. On the one hand, you can understand it.

Some people will ask if the level that Fraser is playing at on a weekly basis is high enough for him to be considered to be the England goalkeeper.

I think he has been very unlucky and England will have to hope that Hart picks up his form, which has not been great recently.

It does beg the question: when is Fraser going to get his chance?

I have always thought that, at international level, you go with the players on form.

Yes, there is a case for experience and going with the old saying that form is temporary but class is permanent.

But Hart is going through a bad spell just now and it might well cost England in these two difficult games which are coming up over the next few days that will decide whether they go to the World Cup finals in Brazil next summer or not.

I hope this situation doesn't make Fraser think that he will never get into the England team while he is playing with Celtic.

I think that is the wrong way to view it. The Champions League has been very good for him and Celtic have been very good for him, and vice-versa.

I think he would be an excellent England goalkeeper and, while I think he will get his chance, I fear it might be after he has left Celtic.

It is natural that players will want to play at the highest level and it is part of the Celtic business model to sign a particular type of player and then sell them on a few years later at a profit.

I am sure it will be something that Fraser is debating in his own head.

How far can he go with Celtic?

I think Celtic will look to sell Fraser on at some point and he will want to have a proper crack at the Premier League in England and playing for his country.

For me, it is a pity that he cannot play for the Scottish champions and play for England.