Scotland call of duty best for McCrorie
Forget Rangers friendly, says Gemmill
SCOT GEMMILL has told Ross McCrorie he is better off playing for Scotland Under-21s next week rather than travelling to Canada with Rangers to face Benfica in a friendly.
But Celtic defender Anthony Ralston has been omitted from the underage squad to face England in Middlesbrough, with Brendan Rodgers last night confirming the full-back requires rest due to ‘a slight tear of his meniscus’.
The Ibrox club will tackle the Portuguese giants in Hamilton, Ontario, in the Eusebio Cup on October 5 — the same day Gemmill’s side face England.
Speaking prior to McCrorie’s impressive first start for Rangers in the defeat to Celtic on Saturday, Caixinha said he would be looking to take the defender with him to Canada to continue his development.
But Gemmill, whose team also travel to face Latvia on October 10, is adamant the 19-year-old’s best interests will be served by remaining part of a squad that opened its Euro 2019 qualifying campaign with a win against Holland last month.
‘Obviously we are keen for Ross to be with the national team,’ said Gemmill. ‘We’ve spoken to Rangers and I’m sure everything will be amicable.
‘We feel the UEFA ruling supports him coming with the national team. We think he’s going to be involved in a couple of really high-level games, so I don’t think it will be an issue. We believe we have priority.
‘I’m biased as I’m the Scotland Under-21 coach. But I think that coming with us, he’ll be an important member of the squad.
‘We want our best players to be with us.’
Tipped by Caixinha to be the future for Rangers and Scottish football after making his debut as a substitute at Partick Thistle, McCrorie acquitted himself well against Celtic despite being unable to prevent his side sliding to defeat.
Having seen the teenager progress through the various underage ranks for the national team, Gemmill was certain he would be unfazed by the challenge of being thrown in against Celtic.
‘I think it’s absolutely brilliant that the manager trusted him to play,’ said the Under-21 manager.
‘He’s been patiently waiting for his opportunity. We’ve been lucky to work with him at all age groups. Anybody that knows Ross would know he was always going to handle the occasion.
‘He’s really level-headed. He’d been waiting for that chance, so we’re delighted for him.
‘I think it’s great that his manager has been so complimentary to him. I think it’s the same for all the young players — they are constantly trying to get over each hurdle and keep progressing up the ladder.
‘If you think of Under-21 teams historically, I’m sure there are so many players who people tipped to push on but they didn’t quite make it for whatever reason.
‘I think these players all need to recognise what an opportunity they’ve got to be part of the national youth team. They need to keep pushing and keep working. They have to strive to play for the full squad. That’s what this team is for.’
One notable absentee from the 23-man squad Gemmill yesterday named for the forthcoming double-header was Ralston.
The Celtic defender featured in the win against Holland but was omitted after his club told the SFA he would be ‘unavailable’.
Pressed before Rodgers went public with the explanation if that meant Ralston was injured, Gemmill replied: ‘You’d need to speak to Celtic.
‘There’s a process where the clubs communicate with our office and we can only select players who are available for selection and we were informed by Celtic that Tony is not available for selection right now.’
Asked if he was disappointed by the situation, Gemmill said: ‘Absolutely. Tony did brilliantly in the summer, has been doing great for his club and did great for us a few weeks ago.
‘It’s an opportunity for whoever plays instead of him.’
Rodgers, speaking ahead of Celtic’s Champions League clash with Anderlecht, confirmed Ralston needed to be rested but only after the weekend.
‘He’s still able to train and he won’t need an operation,’ said the Celtic manager. ‘But what will help him will be rest.
‘He’s available at the moment but myself and the medical staff have looked at what’s going to be best for him.
‘It means he’ll be available to us until the weekend and then after that he’ll have the rest he needs that will hopefully allow him to come back after the international break.’
One player who returns to the squad is Hamilton midfielder Greg Docherty, who was said to be considering switching allegiances to the Republic of Ireland after missing out on the party which faced Holland.
‘I haven’t spoken to Greg, and maybe I am being naive, but there was never any doubt in my mind that he would play for us, and why would there be?’ said Gemmill.
‘He played for us at the end of last season. He knows how highly I regard him. He’s playing in the Premiership, scoring goals, so why wouldn’t he be in? I don’t know how serious the interest was from Ireland, but I wasn’t concerned at all.’