Burley looks South for assistants

George Burley is still moving his things into the office at Hampden Park, but he’s already turning some heads with his choice of assistants. He looks likely to be bringing in two (gasp) Englishmen to help him get Scotland to the 2010 World Cup. Terry Butcher and Malcolm Webster are both likely to be named soon to Burley’s Scotland staff. Butcher, though best known as a defender with 77 caps for England, played for Rangers and coached at both Motherwell and Partick Thistle. He also owns a house in Stirling, and so cannot really be considered a complete outsider. That will do nothing to shut up the fiercest anti-English voices in the Tartan Army, or those that wear Celtic shirts on the weekend, but it may help a little. Webster is a little more of an unknown. He is currently employed as goalkeeper coach at Burley’s recently departed Southampton. It had to figure he’d bring along at least one staffer from the Saints, so this is not a huge surprise.

I’m not hugely against a few Englishmen in the dugouts at Hampden. To me, the Auld Enemies bit is a little dry without a Home Championship, and I guess my dislike of all things Three Lions has faded a little. I still revel in the fact that Scotland lies so close to them in the FIFA rankings, and would celebrate to the point of wild inebriation should we ever pass them, but frankly, nationality is the least of my concerns for the coaching staff of Scotland. I want wins. The Tartan Army wants wins. And if Burley thinks he needs a dugout half-full of Englishmen, or Argentinians, or Inuit, to make that happen, that’s fine by me. As long as it works, and the team wins, he will have all the support he needs. If they lose, however, don’t be surprised by some gruff murmurs about The Enemy in our foxhole.