Count me out, says striker Boyd
UNHAPPY RANGERS FORWARD WILL NOT PLAY FOR SCOTLAND WHILE BURLEY IS THE MANAGER
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Scotland’s World Cup hopes are in tatters. Now Kris Boyd, the country’s most lethal marksman, has declared he will not play for the national side while George Burley remains manager.
Boyd was in despair after being stranded on the bench in Saturday’s damaging 0-0 draw with Norway at Hamp-den. It proved to be the final straw for the Rangers player, having featured in just 28 minutes in the six matches of Burley’s reign.
On Saturday, Burley sent on second-half substitutes Chris Iwelumo and Steven Fletcher, with just one cap between them, ahead of Boyd to rescue Scotland’s World Cup bid in a move which backfired spectacularly.
Iwelumo missed an open goal from just three yards, while Boyd, who has scored seven goals in 15 games for Scotland and an incredible 142 in 199 matches for Rangers and Kilmarnock, was left on the sidelines. Scotland have picked up just four points from their opening three Group 9 qualifiers, with Holland still to play twice, and they have only found the net twice.
Boyd left a message with Burley on Saturday evening and told SFA chief executive Gordon Smith of his decision before the manager returned his call yesterday afternoon.
He has not ruled out returning to the international set up, however, but it will not happen while Burley remains at the helm. He said: “I will not be playing for George Burley again but I hope to be back in a Scotland jersey again one day.”
Burley admitted he was disappointed with Boyd’s decision. He said: “I’ve spoken with Kris and he told me he was disappointed not to play on Saturday or in the last couple of matches. He said he did not want to be considered for future Scotland squads so he can concentrate on his club career. It is disappointing he has chosen to do this at a crucial time in our World Cup campaign but it is his decision to make and I will, of course, respect it.”
The decision to hand Iwelumo a debut ahead of trusted goalscorer Boyd could haunt and define Burley’s reign. The Wolves forward’s miss will go down as one of the worst witnessed at Hampden or anywhere else and leaves Scotland with a mountain to climb to qualify for the South Africa tournament in 2010.
Iwelumo, to his credit, faced the music with honesty and is determined to bounce back from the nightmare debut and prove the doubters wrong.
He said: “People will talk about the miss and rightly so. It was a bad miss and it was a crucial three points lost. But my miss didn’t lose the match and there are things to take forward to the next game.
“There is nothing to be embarrassed about. I’m a forward, I like to score goals. But I missed a chance, I can’t say any more than that. I’ll go away, look at it, analyse it, come back and show you I can score goals.
“I’ll look at what I could do better. In hindsight I should have swung my left foot at it. On another day, it’s in the net and another story. I always say that no matter how you play, there will always be chances.
“I’m sure I’ll get some stick, that’s part and parcel, I’ll take it on the chin and move on.
“There are many ups and downs in a football career. You just have to be strong enough to ride with them. This is one of those downs but if we had lost it would have been disastrous. But we got a point, that’s the positive way to look at it and the performance was positive.
“My own performance, if you take away the chance, was also positive, my link-up play and winning balls in the air. I’m my own worst critic, but I’ll come back stronger. Hopefully, when the next squad is announced my name will be in it, I’ll come back and show people what I can do and that I enjoy hitting the back of the net on a regular basis. I thought my performance was good and if I scored it would have been the icing on the cake.”
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