The no man’s land of national service

Mark Warburton believes more of his players will soon be joining the national squad, for better or worse, hears Kevin Ferrie

WHILE there was considerable validity to his comments, Mark Warburton wanted to make it clear he was jesting when he explained the concerns he has about those of his players who may be called into national squads only to then sit on the sidelines.

“If you don’t play, you just eat. You are in a hotel, you have a big breakfast, protein shake, snack...” he observed, wryly.

The upside, of course, is the boost given to the confidence of those selected and that could not have been better exemplified than through the excitement expressed by Barrie McKay at his involvement with the national squad and the positive way in which Gordon Strachan talked about his prospects last week.

“It’s a real personal achievement. The boys have all made me feel welcome when I’ve been in past squads,” said the 21-year-old, who readily acknowledges that his career has undergone a remarkable turnaround since he was, while on loan, part of the Morton team notoriously trounced 10-2 by Hamilton Accies little more than two years ago.

“If he [Strachan] is talking about me, that means I’m in his thoughts, so that’s obviously a good thing. It’s up to me to continue to push myself. To play better for Rangers and then show him when I’m away with Scotland that he can put me in.

“He spoke to me after the Malta game and he just said that I will get a chance, that I’ve been doing well and need to keep going and pushing myself… I’d trained well and that I’d be used in future. I just need to keep my head up and it will come. Although you could say you are disappointed not to play, to be able to go away and get that experience, even just watching the game was great.”

Despite having raised those tongue-in-cheek reservations about the risks of time spent on international duty, there is not the slightest contradiction in Warburton voicing the hope that both Jason Holt and Andy Halliday would soon be joining McKay and Lee Wallace in the Scotland squad.

That said, in light of recent events at the Rangers training ground, there was every reason to read a subtext into the way he enthused about a player he left out of his starting line-up for their ill-fated meeting with Celtic just a few weeks ago, raving about how Halliday had risen to the challenge, showing his passion for the club and for the game in general.

In saying so, while he noted that football managers will always be criticised over selection issues, particularly if teams lose matches, he acknowledged that the midfielder should not have been omitted.

“We always say it’s never, ever personal, it’s only professional. It has to be that way. If you have a personal issue with someone, you have it out straight away,” he said.

“You can’t win sometimes. You can sit there and say we want to have a tight squad and people say you need bigger numbers. When you have bigger numbers, they say why don’t you pick him? That’s the nature of the beast.

“Hindsight’s a marvellous thing to have, but there’s no doubt when Andy Halliday pulls a shirt on there’s no more passionate player for the club.”

He also offered some constructive analysis on the need to ensure that Halliday’s flexibility and readiness to do whatever is required for the common good do not work against him, noting that “you sometimes need to learn a position, especially the higher level of club you go to. So he’s learned a position”.

That, though, should not be interpreted as an attempt by Warburton to offer mitigation for an error he further accepted when explaining the turnaround which saw Halliday subsequently asked to lead the team through their only victory of last month when thrashing Queen of the South 5-0 in the League Cup quarter-final, notching a goal himself while he was at it.

“I just think he deserved it. Lee [Wallace] was away, Kenny [Miller] wasn’t starting the game, so I think he deserved it and I think it showed in his display how much it meant to him as well,” said Warburton.

The name of the other player involved in that training ground bustup was, of course, never mentioned but it was pretty clear which corner the Rangers boss will be occupying in the unlikely event of any Joey Barton – Andy Halliday rematch.