The Scotland boss has overlooked Celtic’s dynamic midfielder. What a joke.

These days, it is very difficult to get excited in any way, shape, or form about the Scottish international team, its fixtures, or its progress.

’ve felt this way since the last major competition, where we were atrocious, and the manager should not have come out of it with his job intact. What followed was a 15-game run without a win, and I thought the excitement over the victory that ended that run was grossly misplaced.

When the SFA is willing to accept such mediocrity, when it’s willing to accept such a bad run of results, it makes it very difficult to instil any enthusiasm in those who weren’t already die-hard fans of the national team.

Nevertheless, this was one of the rare occasions when I did cast an eye towards the squad for the forthcoming Nations League fixtures—although I regard that competition as one of the most pointless in the history of sport.

And the reason I was interested was that I thought there was one obvious name who could have made the squad and didn’t. I’m not really complaining that he’s been left out, but Luke McCowan can consider himself very unlucky.

McCowan is in a very strange position, but he’s shown a lot of mental strength in getting there. At both club and country, he plays in an area of the pitch that is stacked with talent. Celtic’s midfield is the best in Scotland by a country mile, and it’s a tribute to McCowan that he’s managed to play as many minutes as he has without looking out of place. His recent performances have been exceptional.

For Scotland, he’s also competing with some really, really good players at a high level. Three of them now play in Italy—that’s a challenge. Others play south of the border in that bloated, overhyped league—that’s another challenge. But Lennon Miller getting into the squad ahead of him? That’s farcical.

We’ve talked about Miller to death on this site, but right now, he’s just not as good a player as McCowan. That’s just how I see it, and I’m sure most people would agree. He’s not in the same calibre. He’s not played at the level McCowan is currently playing at. McCowan has come into the Celtic team and made a big impact in big games.

Right now, he’s the in-form player out of the two, so on what basis Miller gets selected ahead of him, I do not know. And then to see Kenny McLean’s name in the squad as well—that’s just mind-boggling. If the manager is really telling us that McLean is a better footballer than McCowan, I’d be stunned.

The thing is, I don’t think McCowan will particularly care. He’s living the dream right now, playing for Celtic. He doesn’t need Scotland caps to validate that, although I’m sure he’d take them if they were offered. But I don’t think he’ll be losing sleep over it.

What should be of more concern to Scotland fans as a whole is looking at another squad without a single natural wide player. Ben Doak has been getting caps recently, but he’s not even made the squad this time, which eliminates the only natural width the team had. And that, of course, means we’re stuck playing this horrible, deadening, defensive formation for the foreseeable future.

There’s not much pleasure to be had in watching Scotland these days, and I can’t get excited about these upcoming international fixtures at all. I’m so unmoved by it that I’m spending next week in Poland just so I don’t have to subject myself to the boredom of international week.

Oh, I’ll still be working away, and I’ll still have articles up, but I probably won’t do more than give my phone a cursory glance to see how Scotland has done in the games. I certainly don’t think I’ll be watching any of them.

Would I have watched if McCowan had made the squad? I think I probably would have. Yeah, I think I’d have had a bit more interest in it. The novelty value alone would have made me tune in. But it’s the theatre of the absurd to see McLean in there, to see Miller in there, and no McCowan.

I’m sure we’ll get asked about it, and I’m sure the manager will give some dismissive answer—probably something about how McCowan isn’t out of his plans or whatever. But I’m unconvinced.

It seems to me that the national team is stuck in the mud as long as the current boss is in charge, and that’s why my interest in it is at rock bottom.

But McCowan could have shaken me out of my lethargy. Had the manager chosen to play him, I might have tuned in. But he hasn’t, and the inclusions of Miller and McLean just makes that decision look ridiculous.

Photo by Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images

Our latest podcast, Hampden Here We Come, is up now.