Contrite Mcburnie is now out for a goal to fully appease the fans
Oli Mcburnie has apologised for being caught on camera saying he didn’t want to be called up by his country.
The £20-million Sheffield United player says his stupidity earned him a clip round the ear from his father.
Now he’s determined to show how much he loves playing for Scotland by hitting the net against Belgium. Mcburnie maintains that comments captured in the Bramall Lane tunnel before his team’s match with Blackburn were taken out of context.
He said: “It’s been a tough couple of weeks for me. Things like that only happen to me!
“It was stupid to put myself in that position. It was a private conversation and five seconds was taken out of context.
“No one heard the rest of the conversation. But nonetheless, it looked terrible and it was stupid from me.
“My old man was raging at me. He gave me a clip round the ear
“Everyone who knows me knows how much I love playing for Scotland.
“My stupid mouth ran away from me. I got down about it because of the backlash. I could see how bad it looks. “When I put myself out there like I do, it’s easy for people to use it as a stick to beat me with.
“But it’s my own fault, I have to realise where I am, what I can and can’t say.
“The family were angry with me, asking why I was saying that. They know I love being up here and so do the boys in the squad.”
Mcburnie (23) spoke to Scotland boss Steve Clarke – a man he hadn’t previously met – as soon as the footage emerged. The Leeds-born man went on: “I rang the gaffer and gave him my point of view.
“We had one conversation and that was it cleared.
“It was tough to explain to the gaffer because he doesn’t know me. But he’ll have seen that
I was trying to prove a point last week in training and I ran myself into the ground for the team against Russia on Friday.
“I just wanted to clear it up with the manager quickly. I didn’t want that to be the first impression he had of me.
“We got it dealt with and we’ll put it behind us.
“I don’t want people thinking that coming up to Scotland is a chore or I don’t want to do it.
“If it was, I wouldn’t come. I love playing for Scotland.
“I played 12 times for the Under-21s and also for the Under-19s. My dad came to every game, home and away.
“I wouldn’t have done all that if I didn’t consider myself a proud Scotsman.”
Mcburnie was relieved not to get a tough reception from the Tartan Army, and would love to repay them by getting amongst the goals against Belgium. He said: “The fans gave me a great reception and I was thankful for that.
“I want to make an impression now to show what I can do for the country.
“I won’t try harder just because of this. Every time I go on the pitch for Scotland I want to give everything and score goals.
“If I keep working hard, they will come. It was a tough shift, personally, against Russia. It was frustrating, but it’s hard playing against three big centre-halves.
“I was feeding off scraps and it’s the graveyard shift.
“I tried to get my body in, hold the ball up and bring the boys into play.
“I’m a striker, I want to get chances and score goals. That didn’t happen but I’ll keep going. “The performance wasn’t good enough and we know that. “Monday is now even more important than it was before.”