Commons and Barr in revamped Scots squad

GEORGE Burley yesterday left his fingerprints all over the Scotland squad to face Northern Ireland next week, a certain indicator of his keenness to transform the group he inherited from Alex McLeish into one that is identifiably his own.

A number of inclusions and omissions in every outfield department seemed to signify that one or two international careers are in the process of being born, while others are being terminated.

Burley could not be expected to state in public that specific players have been consigned to history, but it is reasonable to infer from the make-up of the 24-man pool that only an extreme emergency would lead to the resurrection of veteran defenders David Weir, Christian Dailly and Graham Alexander. That would seem also to apply, perhaps to a lesser degree, to two other defenders, Russell Anderson and Jay McEveley, as well as midfielders and forwards Lee McCulloch, Gary Teale, Stephen Pearson, Shaun Maloney and Garry O'Connor.

Burley was quite explicit over his preference for the Celtic pairing of Gary Caldwell and Stephen McManus in central defence – he expressed the hope they would become the kind of partnership Willie Miller and Alex McLeish formed in the 1980s – and the drafting of 23-year-old Darren Barr of Falkirk and the retention of Hearts' Christophe Berra suggests they will be the understudies.

In the matter of raising eyebrows, Barr's call-up was second only to that of Kris Commons, the 24-year-old Derby County midfielder whose qualification to represent Scotland is his Dundee-born paternal grandfather. Commons was born in Mansfield, began his professional career at Stoke City and established a reputation with Nottingham Forest before joining Derby in the summer on a Bosman.

One of the "new" players is actually quite old. The restoration of 32-year-old Callum Davidson of Preston North End, however, merely exposes the poverty of Burley's resources at left-back. The manager's only other contender for the position is Gary Naysmith, who, despite being still three months short of his 30th birthday, has been diminished by years of injury, not the force he seemed likely to become when he first made an impression as a teenager with Hearts.

The unavailability of the injured Alan Hutton would appear to leave the right-back position in the hands of Kevin McNaughton of Cardiff City, at the expense of Rangers' Steven Whittaker. The former Hibernian defender has been one of the Ibrox side's strugglers through the pre-season programme and the three competitive matches played in the Champions League and the domestic championship.

"It's important to keep progressing and to bring young players through," said Burley, hinting strongly that those who are not members of this latest squad will not be required for the forthcoming World Cup qualifying campaign, for which the meeting with Northern Ireland at Hampden is a final warm-up.

"Players like Darren Barr and Christophe Berra, James Morrison in midfield and David Clarkson in attack are being encouraged. Barr and Berra deserve inclusion in the squad to help them develop as international players, but I will say that Gary Caldwell and Stephen McManus have established themselves as a partnership.

"They are there regularly for Celtic and I am hopeful that they can become for us what Miller and McLeish were in the eighties. They'll keep their places, all right. I have spoken to David Weir, but you have to remember that he is 38 now. He's been a credit to himself and I'm sure he'll play a lot more games for Rangers, but we have to look ahead.

"I'm very happy with the Caldwell-McManus pairing, but you always need cover and we want to develop the younger players who are showing so much potential."

Commons was described by Burley as a rarity, a natural, left-footed wide player who can go past opponents and deliver telling crosses.

"I saw a lot of Kris when I was manager at Derby and he was playing for Stoke and then Forest," he said. "He is very talented, and we don't have a natural left winger who can get past people and whip in good crosses. He has had good experience at Forest and (Derby manager) Paul Jewell says he's among the best he's worked with. I've spoken to Kris about his willingness to play for Scotland, and he is desperate to join us, very positive.

Burley insisted that the 24 he nominated yesterday is not the definitive Scotland squad, revealing that he may consider bringing back "one or two" experienced players for the World Cup. But is was difficult to escape the impression that such changes would only be occasioned by a depletion of resources.

"Alan Hutton and Barry Ferguson will obviously return when they're recovered and hopefully Alan will be with us for the opening double-header in Macedonia and Iceland next month," he said.

"I'm also hopeful that we'll have fewer call-offs at this time of the year, when players are fresh and strong. I certainly wouldn't want to see the nine or ten we had at the end of last season. I can't wait, for example, to see James McFadden. He hasn't been able to play for me yet, but we all know what he can do. He's back and fully fit again with Birmingham."