GEORGE Burley has hit back at criticism from Sir Alex Ferguson regarding the value of friendly international fixtures and insisted he would not be able to lead Scotland to the 2010 World Cup finals without them.
Manchester United manager Ferguson reacted angrily after learning Darren Fletcher would be sidelined for six weeks after sustaining a knee ligament injury during the latter stages of Scotland's 1-1 draw against Croatia at Hampden last Wednesday nig
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Describing friendly internationals as "futile" and "a waste of time", Ferguson claimed Fletcher should have played no more than 60 minutes of the match after reporting for duty despite suffering a heavy chest cold.
The midfielder will now miss most, if not all, of the closing stages of his club's Premier League and Champions League campaigns, but while Scotland manager Burley was sympathetic to Ferguson's standpoint, he was unapologetic over his use of Fletcher.
"I respect Sir Alex's views and I can understand them," said Burley.
"As a club manager, I would probably feel the same. You can speculate that he wouldn't have got injured if I'd taken him off earlier, but he could also have got injured after just three minutes. I had made a number of substitutions and Darren is a key player for me. It's unfortunate.
"It was my first game in charge and we have two more friendlies (against the Czech Republic in May and Northern Ireland in August] before the World Cup (qualifying] starts in September. That will be three friendlies in ten months. Looking ahead to 2009, I think we will probably only play two friendlies. So as a manager trying to get a team ready to qualify for the World Cup, I've got to get my key players playing in some of these friendlies to develop my squad."
When Ferguson took charge of Scotland on a part-time basis in 1985 following the death of Jock Stein during the World Cup qualifying campaign, his squad played five friendly internationals in just six months before the 1986 finals in Mexico.
Burley appreciates the need to foster good relations with leading club managers, but is equally aware of the need to spend as much time as he can with the players at his disposal as he tries to lead Scotland to their first major finals in 12 years.
"I got a lot out of the Croatia game, it wasn't a waste of time for me," he said. "A lot of players d did well. I also know there are areas where I'd like to push on more."
Burley again stressed his satisfaction with the circumstances surrounding the removal of seven players from his squad last week because of injury, including four from Rangers and Celtic midfielder Barry Robson, which was the source of considerable controversy.
"My criteria is simple," said the manager. "If someone has a knock and the medical staff say they aren't likely to make it for Wednesday night, then I'm not going to push it. That won't change."
The full article contains 509 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
