Far East Farce

I have written already this week about the farce in the Far East. So bad that Burley had to apologise to the Japanese coach for the squad that he put out.

Whilst I don't blame Burley for the pull-outs, it again shows an issue with Burley's management.

When Steven Gerrard pulled out of an England friendly against Germany, Capello called him up to be assessed by the England medical staff. He was released but it showed that Capello would not stand for pull-outs even from big name players - I don't think he ever doubted Gerrard was injured but the message was sent. Burley does not have the authority to do this and even if he does have, he would not have the balls to call up Darren Fletcher to be assessed by Scotland's medics. I do not doubt that Burley is disappointed but feel that he, and the SFA, should have sent out a Cappello-esque message.

If we are going to annoy our friends in the Far East why didn't Burley at least call up young talent, why not call up Leigh Griffiths, Scott Arfield, John Fleck, Barry Bannan or Gary Glen rather than those in their mid-20s who are unlikely to break into the squad? Does anyone really believe that Don Cowie has more of an international future than Scott Arfield? I'm not even sure that Dorrans, Adam and Conway are likely to play a lot of international football whereas I'm sure Fleck will and, from all accounts, Bannan will.

Anyway, my point has always been that this was a farcical exercise. A friend noted on the Facebook version of these notes put forward Gordon Smith's case fairly eloquently in defence of the fixture (more eloquently than the repetitive Smith). The reasons for this are:

- The friendly was agreed with a play-off in mind
- We couldn't pull out because it would annoy the Japanese
- Makes good financial sense
- Bonding as a squad

So, in rebuttal mode:

The friendly was agreed with a play-off in mind - Fine. I understand that this had to be done outside Europe as other qualifiers are going ahead. However, there are plenty of teams nearer than Japan who would have given us a decent game - any of the countries of North Africa that are traditionally decent enough (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt). Indeed, Ghana, Cameroon or Nigeria would all have been good. Why did this need to be played overseas?

We couldn't pull out because it would annoy the Japanese - Of course, but we've annoyed them with so many players pulling out. My point is players probably wouldn't have pulled out if they hadn't had to do two 11 hour flights. It being in Japan made it more likely we'd annoy the Japanese.

Furthermore, Burley should have called a few of the players up to double-check their injuries (and if he did this he should have sent press releases about it).

It makes good financial sense - Only in the short-term (which is, of course, important) but it is unlikely that Japan will want to host Scotland again. This game has been largely pointless for them. The next Kirin Cup probably won't have Scotland invited and other far away friendlies may overlook us in future. Let us see the figures.... could this have been played in Scotland? Or at a neutral venue, say, Dubai? It is fine to say this is good business but let us see the figures before we believe it.

Bonding as a squad - Fine but a large chunk of the actual squad weren't there and many of those in this squad won't be back again... We've annoyed the Japanese to have an expensive bonding exercise for the B Team.

A sorry state of affairs and I feel rather sorry for Burley and slightly more so for the Japanese.

RCM