How The Mighty Have Fallen

.... well.....
Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor. Can we call them mighty? I guess it is all relative. I know people who had posters of Barry Ferguson on their wall - seems pretty mighty to me! But then I had Shaun Maloney posters on my wall...... I think Barry Conlon even appeared on my wall at one point (only because he was in a picture with other Darlo players - I hope!) so I guess that doesn't mean much.


Anyway,
so here is the timeline as I see it:

1. Barry Ferguson plays rubbish in the game against Holland. Well, it seems to me as like he didn't even bother playing in that game as I only realised that he was playing very late in the second half. That is not a good thing for a midfielder. I wouldn't mind it if he was the goalkeeper! The less I see of our goalkeeper the better! There was too much seen of Allan McGregor in that game. He let in 3 goals - although, admittedly one was a penalty and there was an infringement on him for one of the others - but still...


2. Aforementioned players, feeling very disappointed and/0r disgusted with themselves(Barry!) and went on a drinking binge in the hotel after the rest of the team had gone to their rooms. Ok, ok that last part was total conjecture but it is how they should have felt and I don't know how bad they were drinking. What I do know is that it was a breach of discipline and they shouldn't have done it.


3. The players are reported by hotel guests and are dropped to the bench for the game against Iceland on Wednesday. I think that if we hadn't had so many injury issues for these matches then they would have been dropped altogether. The matter appears to be over. Do you hear that, boys, OVER! If you hadn't been so stupid this is where I could have stopped! But, you just had to behave like children......


4. Now this is where things start to go crazy. Ferguson and McGregor are spotted sitting on the bench during the game against Iceland giving the 'V's. In Britain giving the 'V's is just like giving the middle finger. It is offensive. Over here in America, it isn't offensive. It took me a long time to get used to that! If you don't know what I mean then go to this article. It even has a picture. And I just LOVE how Sky Sports News were playing it on loop every 15mins(!)


5. There is a big hullabuloo about their ridiculous behaviour and they are both never to be selected for Scotland again and have been suspended by their club, Rangers, and Barry has been stripped of the Rangers captaincy.

Wowza! What a week you've had, boys. You should be very proud of yourselves.

So, here's what I think (because what was written above was totally without bias!): It may seem trivial but these players represent our country at all times, especially when they are on international duty. Drinking in the hotel is never a good idea, particularly when you have another Scotland game on Wednesday that you are meant to be preparing for. They are (well, were!) in a very privileged position being able to play for their country which is something that so many people dream about. I'm sure that it must be tough to be restrained and tow the line all the time but somehow all the others managed it. It is their job to be professional footballers. If anyone else is caught drinking at their job, then they get sacked. Simple as!

But they were disciplined. They were dropped from the starting line up. Everything seemed sorted. It was sorted.

I really cannot believe that two people who had the eyes of a whole nation (or a couple of nations, I guess) on them would do something so ridiculous. They obviously wanted to be seen. They showed no remorse for their actions, rather they wanted to flaunt their disregard to the rules and their punishments. They have to take the consequences.

So, the question is, should Rangers have disciplined them on this as well as Scotland ruling them out for selection again? I totally think that they were justified in that. Ferguson and McGregor were not only representing Scotland, they were representing Rangers too. They represent their club no matter where they are and what they were doing. It needs to be shown that no one is above the rules, not even a man who is captain of his team and his country. What kind of example was that setting to younger players and future players? That kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated.

I am so disappointed. Not so much in Allan McGregor. He would be my third choice goalkeeper. I don't rate him terribly highly. It is Barry Ferguson that makes me sad. I know that I was angry about how poorly he played against Holland but the fact is that I respected him a great deal. Really. I remember the first time that I saw him play. He was wearing a Scotland shirt and I was so excited that I would actually get to see Barry Ferguson play in person! Barry Ferguson! WOW! I loved his funny little run that he has and, whenever I saw him play for Scotland, he was always the one who would hold the midfield together..... that is until the Holland game. I really had a lot of respect for him.

It is funny how all that can disappear in the blink of an eye.

I worry about Scotland. I don't think that either man is above the team. I don't think that they are vital. No one is. But we are a small country with few high class players. We aren't doing well in this campaign. Oh, how I long for us to make it to the World Cup! We've had so many injuries too......

But we WILL get on without them. Maybe we'll even be stronger than before. I hope so. We have a long break before our next match and so, hopefully, George Burley can regroup and we can get some of those with injuries back.

Scotland the Brave