One month left to wait

On March 26th, one month from today, the first Scotland squad under new manager George Burley will take to the pitch at Hampden to take on visiting Croatia. Of course, the Croatia side that comes out of the visitor gates will be down one major player, with the injured Eduardo out for the season. But it will be no less dangerous of an opponent, and no less important of a challenge for Burley, who needs to put his stamp on this team and make it his own, while still keeping a solid core of players together. We have to wait just a bit longer until Burley announces his squad for the match, but there are rumblings of some major changes, if perhaps temporary ones. As is often the case, the priorities of the Scotland squad are coming into direct conflict with those of the Old Firm, as Rangers and Celtic meet for the second time this season, a potentially decisive match in a 4-point battle for the SPL title, just 3 days after the match at Hampden. If Burley sticks with the same basic side that Alex McLeish used, this would seem to be benefit Celtic, since more Rangers players would be used. Burley has promised to consult with both Walter Smith and Gordon Strachan before announcing the squad.

The question is, why? One of the reasons I liked the appointment of Burley was that he has no close ties to either of the Old Firm sides. After two Rangers men in a row, it was good to see someone who had made their name at different Scottish clubs in the top job. I understand that he doesn’t want to single-handedly decide the SPL by naming a certain squad, but George Burley was not hired to manage the Old Firm … he was hired to manage Scotland. I hope that by “consulting” with Smith and Strachan, he means that he is telling them the players he’ll need, and doing it as nicely as possible. The manager of Scotland’s national side doesn’t have to ask permission from any club, even the mighty Celtic and Rangers, before naming a squad. Name the best squad you can, George. The Old Firm can look after themselves. They both have plenty of talent sitting on the bench if their stars are too tired.