McFadden still living the dream as he ponders Brown’s decision
THE red stripe has long since faded, the pony tail no longer flaps in his wake. Even memories of that goal in a certain Parisian suburb are already beginning to grow vague in his mind’s eye, while yet another year is set to roll around since a last cap was thrown on a fairly substantial heap.
Indeed, the mature figure of James McFadden that walked around a deserted Hampden Park yesterday is far from the gallus young man that blazed a spectacular trail across it in dark blue.
Thirteen years have somehow flown by since his moment of genius on that very patch of grass earned Scotland a 1-0 European Championship play-off win over Holland. But, perhaps more importantly, it is the six that have trundled by since his last appearance for his country as he was hooked at half-time during a telling night against Lichtenstein that carry much more significance.
It is with this passing of time that McFadden cannot just fully appreciate what represented the golden moments of his playing career, but what they still mean to him as he now accepts his time as an international footballer are behind him.
During his time with Scotland McFadden earned 48 caps, just two shy of qualifying for the Hall of Fame. It is a goal missed that he admits doesn’t take the shine off an international career of incredible highs – and a fair handful of lows – as the little red-striped kid inside hopes that one day the phone may ring again.
“I won’t ever retire because you never know, do you? There could be a good spate of 50 or 60 injuries,” laughs McFadden. “There might be nobody else left.
“Our manager at Motherwell [Mark McGhee] is the Scotland assistant manager so if I can go and play 10 or 20 games – and I think I’ve done well enough – then I’m going to say to him ‘give wee Gordon a ring and tell him I’m alright, by the way!’ That’s just the way I am and I’ll never change.
“I’d never say ‘that’s it done.’ I won’t play for Scotland again, we all know that, but I wouldn’t ever say I’d retired because you never know.”
From that position, McFadden voices his concerns over a former international team-mate who has voluntarily brought his time with Scotland to an early conclusion.
Earlier this month Celtic captain Scott Brown announced that he had made the difficult decision at the age of 31 to remove himself from the selection process for future squads in order to prolong his club career.
It is a call that the Motherwell man believes the former Scotland skipper may well regret.
“I can understand why he’s done it but at the same time he’s 31, he could have, and probably