Bear facts are Peru trip ideal for fringe men
IT took Neil Lennon – as usual – to drill down to the root of an issue that has generated more heat than light.
The last time so much fiction was written about a trip involving Peru, Paddington Bear was dipping his pan loaf into a jar of marmalade.
Lennon cut to the chase as he anticipated a potential call-up for players like Dylan McGeouch and John McGinn.
He said: “If any player in this country thinks they should not go to play for Scotland in Mexico and Peru because the matches are at the end of the season then sorry, they’re not that good. Really, they’ve not done enough in their careers to warrant that kind of attitude.”
The trip has been hijacked for political ends, by Peter Lawwell in particular, and served as a coup de grace to end the reign of Stewart Regan.
We were told it was the last straw for the SFA chief executive as the prospect of up to eight Celtic players leaving for a 10-day trip at the end of May, ahead of likely Champions League qualifiers in mid-July, was so unpalatable to Parkhead powerbrokers.
Talk about a smokescreen. If anyone really thinks any Scotland boss would harvest the Celtic squad at that stage of the season they’re believing in a work of fiction greater than anything Michael Bond could have written.
The only Celtic players, if any, making the trip will be those Alex McLeish and Brendan Rodgers deem will take something from it to the mutual benefit of both parties.
Rodgers may like to see one or two fringe players, maybe those coming back from injury, hit the ground running in the new season.
It will be the same with Europa League qualifiers, most likely Rangers and Aberdeen and possibly Lennon’s Hibs.
Would Graeme Murty knock back the chance for Ross McCrorie to get senior international football in a season in which he has played lightly on the back of an injury? Would Derek McInnes compromise the international ambitions of Graeme Shinnie and Scott McKenna?
Regan was unfairly castigated for organising the trip but club critics have a cheek as it’s their failure to produce players of note on the international stage that forced his hand.
Would they be moaning as loudly had Scotland qualified for the World Cup finals in Russia and our leading players faced the prospect of a summer with only a few days’ break?
Long gone are the days when players needed the first 10 days of pre-season training to shift a stone in timber after their holidays.
Our top players, particularly at Celtic, ask a lot of their bodies, which is why judicious management at club and international level is needed to ensure they don’t go to the well too often.
The rest? They’re hardly overworked playing a maximum 50 games a season and a standardised calendar has given them more time off than ever during a season when they aren’t called up.
The trip is a brilliant opportunity for fringe players, up-and-coming talents and injured regulars on the comeback trail to stake their claim.
The real tragedy is our players are heading for the tourist route to Machu Picchu rather than jetting off to Moscow for the greatest show on earth.
The trip has been hijacked for political ends by Peter Lawwell in particular