johnnyk

GEORGE Burley spent most of the World Cup campaign battling a group of Rangers players who didnââ?¬â?¢t want him as Scotland manager. Within weeks of his appointment Burley felt that a clique of Ibrox players were not showing him enough respect and were not enthusiastic about playing for him. That sucked him into a draining, damaging relationship with a handful of players as Scotlandââ?¬â?¢s Group 9 campaign collapsed towards failure. The beleaguered Scotland bossââ?¬â?¢s future will be decided when he meets SFA office-bearers George Peat, Gordon Smith, Campbell Ogilvie and Alan McRae on Tuesday, and when he makes his case to be given the Euro 2012 campaign, Burley will make it clear that his efforts were undermined by a small group of obstructive players, all of whom are no longer Scottish internationalists. Lee McCulloch and Kris Boyd retired from international football during the qualifiers, while Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor were banned indefinitely for going on a lengthy drinking session in the SFAââ?¬â?¢s hotel during a double-header against Holland and Iceland. All four of them were Rangers players at the time, although others ââ?¬â?? Kenny Miller, Davie Weir, Steven Whittaker, Steven Naismith and Kirk Broadfoot ââ?¬â?? served Burley well in the qualifiers. He has no problem with the Ibrox club itself, he said. Burley refused to name any of the players who had undermined him, but he revealed it had been a damaging distraction for most of his first campaign in charge of Scotland. ââ?¬Å?Youââ?¬â?¢re a new manager, youââ?¬â?¢re going into a new set-up and initially things arenââ?¬â?¢t going the way you hoped they would,ââ?¬Â he said. ââ?¬Å?The commitmentââ?¬â?¢s got to be there. You impose your own style and you have to gain that respect. The commitment wasnââ?¬â?¢t there from everybody and it has to be. You notice body language from day one. Everybody has got to be behind the country and behind me, because Iââ?¬â?¢m the coach. Theyââ?¬â?¢ve got to be behind the cause because if they donââ?¬â?¢t believe in it, itââ?¬â?¢s going to dampen the rest of the squad.ââ?¬Â One SFA source compared Burleyââ?¬â?¢s problem with the one faced by former Rangers manager Paul Le Guen, who lasted only six months at Ibrox. ââ?¬Å?George wasnââ?¬â?¢t happy with four or five players who didnââ?¬â?¢t particularly want to play for him and didnââ?¬â?¢t give him the respect they should have. That had to be sorted out and it has been.ââ?¬Â There had been at least one occasion when a player looked away and whistled while Burley was talking to him. The manager has also been exasperated by public discussion of his future by SFA president Peat and chief executive Smith. Burley, who felt the need to apologise to Chris Iwelumo after Peat blamed the striker for the campaignââ?¬â?¢s failure, revealed he was frustrated that his own future had not been clarified already. ââ?¬Å?My job is to try and control the team; unfortunately I canââ?¬â?¢t control the SFA. Whatever they decide, Iââ?¬â?¢ll accept and weââ?¬â?¢ll move on. Itââ?¬â?¢s a little bit ridiculous that itââ?¬â?¢s hanging on at the moment. When would I have liked to have known what happens next? Today.ââ?¬Â http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/more-scottish-football/burley-s-blues-battle-1.919578 It just gets better, he didn't have to pick these Rangers players who weren't playing for him did he?? Sooner he goes the better............

Is this prat Burley and his hopeless assistants going to be sacekd this week? Here's hoping it's soon!!!

it's a mans game nothing wrong with a few studs down the face

great challenge get in there big man, c'mon the city

3-1 for the Gers, miller, boyd 2...............

For a country who's national sport is football and who haven't qualified for the WC since 1998 he does have a good reason. We played some good stuff last night as did they but they took one of their chances we never. We never played good enough in all the games which is why we never qualified. I'm sure if we played like we did last night all the time we would be so why aren't we?

jeffries would be worse than burley sadly not many decent mangers would want or take the job these days!! the SFA are a bunch of plonkers which doesn't help matters either.........

They have a chance and the way they are playing must be considered, but i hope they fail as they usually do!!!

same old story, great performance but kicked in the teeth late on...........

From the BBC!!! BBC Sport's Keir Murray at Hampden:"I can't help thinking that astonishing miss by Kenny Miller/great save by Michel Vorm will become a JFK moment in Scottish football history, as in 'Where were you when Miller missed that tap-in?'" here we go eh...............

very good game to watch with plenty of chances for both teams, hopefully they can keep it going and take at least one chance!!

Now that diddy Marshall is in goals for us I might lump on the Dutch tonight!!!

just saw that, bit of a blow as marshall is pants!!!

I was shouting for Lee not to shoot when I saw him with the ball, then he made me eat my words big style, great goal............

bads news for NI good news for us he's not being risked......sure it was said there is no ligament damage so hopefully he's back for us soon....

We all want Scotland to win but they way he is going about things along with the other 2 prats he's got beside him is a joke and embarrassing IMO.....that also goes for Smith and Peat... I can't see anything other than a good dutch win but I hope I am wrong, but at the same time I don't want any of these 3 guys in charge anymore and if we did get to the WC I would cringe at them being in charge of us there...... Fans like yourself obviously don't care what happens elsewhere apart from on the pitch and that's fine but even you have to say some of the performances under him so far have been dreadfull..........good luck Scotland..........

why? he's useless, can't we say our opinion?

i'm sorry Brown did not play amazing yesterday for us, watch the game back he loses possesstion more than what he wins. Scored a very important goal but I don't count that as amazing, same as McFadden, done well but he's not god!! I would never have done what he done and doubt the majority would, bad sportsmanship is about as bad as cheating......

I agree a teams needs someone like him but IMO he's not improved much if at all since he's moved from Hibs. He gets praise like he's some sort of superstar from oue media and I just don't see that in him. He loses possesstion more than what he wins which is not very good for a midfielder!!

you're easily pleased if you think all those players played very good or better today and if you think McFadden is god but each to their own m8... i can't see us beating the dutch but fingers and everything else crossed......

Brown hardly gets past a man, and loses possesstion a hell of a lot yet because he runs about a lot, makes a few tackles, plays simple passes he gets praise. done well with his goal but average at best the rest of the game.......

the ball was played out so a Macedonia player could get some treatment and instead of giving it back to them, Brown whacked it against a defender and won a corner.

2-0 easy

I wonder if Gordon Smith will be proud of what Scott Brown done, very sporting of him.......

poor performance, that system is not working. second to most things and they look like the only team going to score.