OLI: I OWE BOSS
McBurnie admits it’s Clarke payback time
OLI McBURNIE accepts he owes Steve Clarke big time and has vowed to repay the Scotland boss’ patience by firing the country one step closer to the European Championships.
The £20million Sheffield United striker is back in the fold for the
crunch play-off semi-final with Israel tomorrow night after pulling out of Clarke’s squad last month before playing for his club in a bounce match 24 hours later.
The 24-year-old insists he wasn’t to blame for that controversy but admits he has failed to prove himself for his country having gone more than two years without breaking his duck.
McBurnie said: “The manager has been really good for me since he’s come in. He came to watch so many of our games last year and it means a lot when you have the national manager coming to watch you.
“He has called me up for every camp and been really good with me.
“I have not made it easy for him with certain situations I’ve put myself in but he’s always had my back and always had confidence in me.
“It’s time for me to repay a bit of that confidence.”
McBurnie says he und e r s t ands why emotions ran high last month after his latest withdrawal from Clarke’s squad for the Nations League openers against Israel and the Czech Republic, only to then turn out in a friendly against Derby the following day
He said: “It’s hard with the communications side of everything but my manager at Sheffield United and Steve Clarke had sorted it out between them so it was nothing to do with me.
“I understand from the outside how it looks but it’s one of those things. It’s easy to get on top of me.
“But it is what it is. I had not trained all pre-season, I’d been out for six weeks. I did one day’s training and then went into a preseason game.
“I came on at half-time, which I was unaware I was going to be doing but anyone in football knows running around for 45 minutes of a pre-season game is completely different to playing in an international qualifier.
“In terms of my performances for Scotland they have not been where I would have liked them to have been and I’ve not carried my club form into the international scene which is something I really want to do.
“I ’m raring to go. I haven’t played the last three games so I’m itching to get a game at the minute. I feel fit physically, I feel good and ready to go.”
McBurnie has fallen down the pecking order with new boy Lyndon Dykes likely to spearhead Clarke’s attack and Dundee United’s Lawrence Shankland also vying for the No.9 shirt.
He has even lost his starting place at Bramall Lane to Scotland teammate Oli Burke so he knows he faces a fight to pick up his 10th cap.
He said: “Of course it helps having options and making the manager’s decision a hard one.
“As strikers we want to make it as hard as possible for him but playing for Scotland is the proudest thing for me. I have always said international football is the pinnacle.
“From Under - 19s, Under-21s, all the way up, it is always a proud one when I get to represent Scotland. Not just for me but for my family as well.
“My debut against Costa Rica was the proudest day of my dad’s life.
“Forget me and my brother being born but that is the one that he always speaks about.
“For me to wear the No.9 shirt at Hampden is something I dreamed about as a kid and to do that and to carry on doing that is really special.”