Why Dunc off when it can be Paul to play for?

IT feels like a lifetime ago but no time like the present to recount a story about an old team-mate sidestepping Scotland duty.

As Paul McGinn packed his bags to answer Steve Clarke’s call yesterday by catching a flight to Vienna as a late replacement for Nathan Patterson, it’s worth reminding some that a cap call doesn’t always mean champagne corks start flying for the right reasons.

Here’s the scene setter. It was a Friday afternoon and a few Dundee United players opted to stop at a bar for a few drinks with international weekend beckoning.

Big Duncan Ferguson’s local was Rainbow Rocks in Stirling so in we piled and the pints started flowing.

More than enough water has flowed under the bridge to recount this tale, there’s also no chance he’ll be writing his memoirs any time soon so it would be a shame not to give this story an airing.

A few pints into the session he was reminded that he was scheduled to report for Scotland at a hotel in Glasgow the next day. But that mischievous smile creased Big Dunc’s face and we knew what was coming next.

It was either going to be the back seizure or an ankle twist which would prove an issue and clearly he’d planned to set up camp for the night in pubs and clubs, any intention of playing for his country had gone out the window.

This disregard for going to play for

Scotland was hard to comprehend and still is to this day. The realisation of a boyhood dream?

Not a chance, just a need to get the round in.

A bogus excuse was delivered by Big Dunc to the United club secretary and onto the next venue we went, international duty takes a back seat when the nightclub comes calling.

This misfiring striker was gobsmacked at the casual disregard for gaining a cap which Dunc had shown, especially being a player whose passport was always at the ready.

It goes to show that a late call into Clarke’s squad isn’t always the greatest ambition for any senior squad fringe player. The chances are

A cap call not always means the popping of champagne corks for the right reason

that Motherwell’s Stephen O’Donnell will start at right-back against Austria tonight and the best HIbs star McGinn can hope for is a place on the bench.

But McGinn will travel with pride to join his brother John.

He’s a good type who’ll always go cap in hand if there’s the slightest chance of playing for Scotland.

Unlike Big Dunc, a conscientious objector if there’s a night out on offer.

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