Passion is still there but how can we harness it for the team?

By MARK MCGHEE

Published:

IHAVE a great deal of sympathy for the now former Scotland manager George Burley and there is no doubt he will feel badly let down by his players in the aftermath of the national team’s 3-0 defeat by Wales on Saturday.

The SFA has acted quickly following the Cardiff defeat and failure to qualify for the World Cup finals in South Africa next year, with George and his assistants Terry Butcher and Paul Hegarty sacked yesterday.

I was interviewed for the post at the same time as George when I was in charge of Motherwell after being asked if I would be interested in the job. I will not be this time around. My future is with Aberdeen.

I think the players must carry a huge responsibility for what has happened with Scotland in recent years. I know supporters will be left scratching their heads wondering how things have come to this.

As much as I have spent a life working in the football industry, I am still the same supporter I was when I went down to Wembley in 1977 to watch Scotland beat England. A lot of those supporters will be wondering what an international manager has to do other than pick the team and open the dressing-room door for them to run out on to the pitch?

Sadly, it does not work that way.

The players are playing for their country and the supporters, who spend fortunes following their team, could be forgiven for wondering what greater accolade there could be for any footballer in Scotland?

I won four caps. Two of them were against Canada and one each against Northern Ireland and England.

It does not get any better than facing England. Playing against the Auld Enemy was compensation for not getting the 50-odd other caps I thought I could and perhaps should have had.

As a Scotland supporter, I went to Wembley and any other number of matches.

I would have given anything to play against England, or anyone else for that matter, and that is the way it should be.

Somehow, though, this is not happening today. But I would also ask who could have done any better? Do we have a golden generation of players who, for one reason or another, are not lining up in the blue shirt?

Or do we have to accept that the team is what it is. Scotland has no divine right to expect qualification for the finals of major championships and, in fact, I think us even reaching a World Cup or European championship finals would be a triumph in itself.

A performance such as last Saturday’s would suggest players do not want to play for their country in the same way they did 10 or 20 years ago. But there have been other recent performances which showed the passion for playing in a Scotland shirt. The atmosphere and the attitude has been spot on in some matches – and I would argue it is still there.

But we have to accept that the players are being paid such high wages now, they will have more of a thought for their club than they did in the past.

The world is changing and it is an inevitable consequence of the times we live in.

As a manager you have to find a hook, or a message the players can take into a game.

I’ve lied to players about what has been said about them, knowing they never pay a bit of attention to media coverage in the build-up to a match.

Somehow, the Scotland manager has to transmit the passion of the supporters into a performance on the pitch.

Quite how, I am not too sure.