No favours from Scots boss Eck

ALEX McLeish insists no favours were handed out when he named an inexperienced Scotland squad for the trip to face Peru and Mexico.

The Scotland manager has picked seven uncapped players – including Hibernian left-back Lewis Stevenson, new Celtic winger Lewis Morgan, Hear ts defender John Souttar and Aberdeen midfielder Graeme Shinnie – and only four players who are into double figures in their cap counts.

Celtic players Craig Gordon, Callum McGregor, James Forrest, Leigh Griffiths and Kieran Tierney are left out, although Stuart Armstrong and Jack Hendry are included along with Ryan Christie, whose loan spell at Aberdeen has ended.

McLeish held talks with Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers over plans for a trip organised by axed chief executive Stewart Regan before the manager was appointed. But decisions on who to rest were taken after analysis by the SFA’s performance staff.

“We took every individual on t h e i r ow n m e r i t s ,” McLeish said. “It wasn’t a case of doing anybody any favours, it was more about what we f elt about t he future as well. I have seen in the past young players suffer burnout later on in their careers.

“The Celtic boys have played a lot of football over the last two years, never miss training sessions. So there is a fantastic input from them.

“Ultimately, it’s going to benefit the national team.”

Scotland manager Alex McLeish.