THE reaction of former Scotland players to Kris Boyd's decision to retire from international football while George Burley remains manager is not necessarily as cut and dried as those of Scottish fans, who need little encouragement to brand the Rangers striker a traitor.
A spokesman for the Tartan Army has already described Boyd as "yesterday's man" but Scotland captain Barry Ferguson has spoken up for his Rangers team-mate. "I can understand Boydy being frustrated," he said yesterday. "It's not just me; I think e
veryone knows when he gets on the pitch, nine times out of 10, he is going to score. There is a lot of disappointment and sadness on his part. He just wants to play and obviously he didn't, so he has come to a decision which you have to respect."
Kevin Gallacher, who won 53 caps for Scotland between 1988 and 2001, also expressed sympathy with Boyd's predicament yesterday. The former Dundee United and Blackburn Rovers winger admitted he could empathise too; Gallacher himself pondered walking away from the international team as a starting berth became harder to hold down in the twilight of his career. Unlike the supporters, who cannot fathom how someone might wish to turn down the opportunity to even sit among the substitutes for Scotland, fellow players are more sensitive to the professional frustrations which might build when denied the chance to perform.
"I think you have to look at what he has achieved for his club," said Gallacher. "And on the international scene too he has been fantastic, with seven goals in six starts. We have been looking for a striker like that for God knows how long. You have to keep him happy.
"Against Norway, especially with one of your strikers out, I would personally have thought he would have played. Indeed, if I was him I would have expected to play. When the manager decides to out on another two strikers instead, then questions inevitably rise in your head.
"George (Burley] says he has to establish himself at Rangers. But he has been top goalscorer there. I think George will have to explain it a bit better to him. If he can score goals when coming off the bench for Rangers surely he can do that for Scotland.
"I don't think he has turned his back on Scotland. He wants to play for Scotland. But that's it, he wants to play, and he thinks he deserves to play. Fans will think he has turned his back. But I think he is just trying to get his point across, and this is the only way he can do it."
Gallacher reflected on his own Scotland career, which started with an appearance against Colombia in 1988. It ended 13 years later after coming on as substitute against San Marino, in Craig Brown's last qualifying campaign as manager.
"I would be a liar if I said I never got frustrated," continued Gallacher. "There are times when I wanted to stop playing for the international side. But then I had a quiet word with Craig, and a quiet word with a couple of the players, and think why? Why do I want to finish it. I was fortunate in that I had a good relationship with Craig. That's what held it together. I realised I was getting older. But before that I wouldn't accept it, I couldn't believe I wasn't first choice. You can get a bit petty, but it helps to sit down and talk about it."
Billy Dodds is another who can understand where Boyd is coming from. Dodds was a later starter in the international football, but went on to amass 26 caps. Although he cherished this chance to pull on a Scotland jersey Dodds is alert to Boyd's predicament, and spoke to the player after he had decided to walk away from Burley's regime.
"Kris feels down, but he'll battle back," he said. "He's a strong-minded character, but at this moment he feels that he doesn't want to be with the Scotland squad any more. I can understand his frustration because he's not getting used. If I was there and my goal-ratio was the same as his, I would feel the same. His goal-ratio stands up against anybody, and Scotland were desperate for a goal against Norway, but he didn't get used. He just felt as if he was so far out of the picture."
Arthur Graham, the former Scotland winger, is from another era, and might have been expected to take issue with Boyd's stance. Graham thought he had been robbed of the chance to play for Scotland at all when he, along with four other Scottish team-mates, was handed a life ban by the Scottish Football Association after a nightclub incident in Copenhagen in 1975. This was eventually lifted and he went onto win 11 caps.
"The best honour a Scottish footballer can achieve is playing for your country," he said. "But I can understand Boyd's feelings. He is a striker, and a proven goalscorer. If he is in the squad then you have to throw him on when you need a goal. It is all very well saying he is not playing for the Rangers team. But to have him on the bench and then not put him on, well I can clearly see why the lad is frustrated."
The full article contains 906 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
