GEORGE Burley has claimed that he is better placed than ever to deal with any call-offs ahead of next weekend's friendly international against Wales, but he warned serial offenders that they could be jeopardising their place in his plans for next year's European Championship qualifiers.
The Scotland manager unveiled his 23-man squad yesterday, but having learned from the upheaval of ten withdrawals ahead of the most recent friendly in Japan, he admitted that he had already placed others on stand-by.
Lee Wallace, Graham Dorrans
and Don Cowie retain their places, having done enough to impress on their debuts, while Derek Riordan gets another opportunity to convince Burley of his international credentials. But others have missed out at the expense of the returning first- choice selections.
"Basically they played well and I was very pleased with the attitude and performance of the whole squad (in Japan] and I have spoken to all the ones who were involved over there and are unfortunate not to be in this squad. But there is only so many I can include.
"The other lads have given me a bigger squad to chose from and you know what happens, you name a squad and all of a sudden, bang, five or six are injured, so it's important you have the nucleus of a bigger squad to pull from and I think we now have that."
With Scott Brown and Shaun Maloney, two of the more obvious omissions due to recurrences of the ankle and Achilles injuries which forced them out of the last squad, and the old guard of David Weir, Paul Hartley and Graham Alexander all excluded as he runs the rule over the younger players, he does welcome back the likes of Darren Fletcher.
Philosophically, Burley said that injuries were part and parcel of the game and there was no suspicion that people were lacking the commitment required to represent the country, despite the reservations aired by his former Scotland team-mate Gordon McQueen. If there was, he said it would certainly be frowned upon and, if the same people who were consistently missing for friendly matches suddenly made themselves available when the major competitive action resumed, the inference was they may find themselves overlooked.
"If you are injured, you're injured, and if you have a knock, then you won't take a risk in a friendly game. If it's a World Cup tie, you might be more inclined to do it, but there were players who were injured (for the game against Japan]. Northern Ireland, before their last World Cup game, had ten out, so it does happen. The players are keen to play for Scotland.
"We are trying to build on things and make sure that everybody that is coming into the squad is desperate to play for this country and we want that attitude. I played with Gordon and I went halfway across the world for World Cups and I never got a kick.
"I think we are building the spirit and the attitude where people want to be involved whether it's a friendly or a World Cup game. It's an honour and we need to have that passion and I think we showed we do have it in the Holland and Macedonia games and it's something we need to keep building on. We want everybody to have that desire to play for the country. It's important those involved are 100 per cent committed and it's my job to make that happen."
Burley refused to rule out the future inclusion of players such as St Johnstone's Jody Morris and cited their willingness to associate with the Scotland set-up as proof that players are "desperate" to be involved.
"He is a player who is doing well in the SPL, but we have numerous other players who are in contention for the Scottish midfield spots as well."
One of those could be Andrew Driver if the Hearts player decides his future lies with Scotland rather than England. Burley said progress could be expected on that in the future but failed to pick him for the match against Wales, claiming the player had been unsettled by the issue and needed to focus on playing for his club.
"He had to make a big decision in the summer to play for England, so the next decision he makes is a big one and at the moment he is a young player progressing," said Burley. "We will see what materialises in the future. We will leave it at that."
