Dear Gordon,
It was great see you at Pittodrie on Wednesday to watch your former club Aberdeen beat Motherwell 7-2.
We’re sure the displays of Dons captain Ryan Jack and fellow midfielder Kenny McLean caught your attention, and we’re hoping you’ll give them a long overdue chance to show they are international class.
Dons manager Derek McInnes reckons they are and we agree. It’s just a shame Graeme Shinnie, who McInnes rates as his best performer this season, missed out due to suspension as he would have caught your eye as well.
We’re sure you remember Graeme, though. You’ve called him up a few times in the past, but never played him.
We realise you can’t say it, but our hopes of playing in Russia next year at the World Cup final are all but done and dusted and even the most optimistic member of the Tartan Army is now thinking of the 2020 European championships as our next chance.
That’s why we’re asking you, really asking you to give some of the Dons players a chance.
They are playing for the second best team in the country and have consistently been challenging for trophies for the last four years.
McLean has played almost 100 games for the Dons and he was captain of his previous club St Mirren before he moved to Pittodrie.
Jack is approaching 250 games for Aberdeen and is the captain of his hometown team.
Give them a chance. It’s time to look to the future and it’s not Scott Brown.
As good a player as the Celtic captain is, his noble gesture of coming out of his self-imposed international retirement to play against England at Wembley was a slap in the face to every player hoping to catch your attention.
Will players be allowed to pick and choose when they want to wear the dark blue jersey?
We know there are cheerleaders down in the central belt who sing the praises of the players in and around Glasgow, but reckon some of these Aberdeen players are pretty good and worth a chance.
Just ask your assistant Mark McGhee. He saw how good they are from both the touchline and the Main Stand on Wednesday night.
McLean was given 57 minutes to impress against the Czech Republic in a friendly last year. We bring that up as it’s worth noting despite Aberdeen’s consistency he is the only Dons player to be capped in the last four years.
Surely more are deserving of some more recognition than that?
You know how hard players from provincial clubs have to work to gain national attention. We’re trying to give them a helping hand.
It’s time for something different.
Yours sincerely,
Press and Journal Sport.
