Alex McLeish has a headache.
What a pity.
He’s got a “big decision” about whether he plays Allan McGregor or Craig Gordon; I doubt that very many people care one way or another.
I get a headache every time I think of this joker in the Hampden hot-seat.
I love my country.
I hate seeing a key part of its football infrastructure in the hands of EBT recipient and arch Sevconite McLeish.
I hate the fact that the governing body brought the national job down to a choice of two out of work former Ibrox bosses, both of whom walked out of the Scotland job once before, Smith to go to Rangers and McLeish to go to Birmingham. It devalued us. It debased us.
It was another SFA embarrassment, cheered by a media who lacks imagination and scruples in equal measure. They would rather one of their mates got the gig than that the country tried to get someone decent to do the job; so be it. They will turn on him soon enough.
It was – it still is – a disgusting choice.
Nothing will ever make it better than it is.
McLeish intends to split the difference over the keepers; he will field Gordon for one – the tough one – and McGregor for the other. Talk about riding the middle of the road; this is what I mean about this guy being grossly unfit for the job. He’s already spending much of his time politicking. I would rather he stuck to his guns and went with his gut; when in doubt pick the Ibrox player. Give McGregor the gloves if that’s what makes you happy.
McGregor, of course, is unfit to wear the jersey; he disgraced it, along with Barry Ferguson, back in 2009. His neddish behaviour on Sunday shows that he has learned nothing. Not that any of that bothers people at Hampden, as the decision to clear him shows.
If I had my way our players would withdraw from the national squad whilst he’s there. It’s something I would never expect our players to do though; they are far too professional for that and in spite of how the country’s football authorities have treated our club, they still believe it is an honour and a privilege to pull on the dark blue jersey.
It is not their fault that the SFA made such a diabolical decision.
It is not their fault that the governing body here cannot sort itself out.
But McLeish is a symbol of everything that’s wrong with our game.
The appointment has not simply left me cold but turned me off completely. I frankly couldn’t care who is between the sticks; I won’t even watch the national team whilst this farce continues and it has nothing to do with McLeish’s clear Ibrox sympathies; it’s because that’s the only criteria on which he was judged for, and given, the job in the first place. After Gordon Strachan the SFA took the very deliberate decision to throw the Ibrox mob a bone, and this was it, this was their “peace offering.”
To Hell with the consequences for the game.
To Hell with our reputation.
It’s in the gutter anyway, with Malky McKay continuing to draw a Hampden wage.
There’s not an association like them, not anywhere.
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