If the reports are as accurate as the normal West Coast drivel I apologise in advance Mr Brown, but if they are true, you should take a damn good look at yourself and seriously think about giving the game up. As you have obviously lost it altogether.
I may be biased in the fact I want Gavin to play for Scotland, as it not only will give him confidence in his own ability as a player, but he might actually start to believe he can play at that level consistently. Dundee will also gain in stature as a club, at home also.
The comments, to which I am referring to, are regarding the three new call ups to the Scotland squad, Messrs Rae, O’Neil and Miller.
Praise is heaped on Charlie Miller for the way he has revitalised the United team after a shaky start, which has gone a long way to his inclusion in the squad. All fair argument and good for helping the players esteem for being included into the squad.
Praise heaped on John O’Neil for the way he has performed all season in a very good Hibs team this year culminating with him scoring two goals against Livvy, again fair comment.
Gavin Rae what a way to go and putting pressure on a youngster.
Reported on the Scottish Football Web page and in the Daily Record.
“Brown was also unusually quick to put pressure on 23-year-old Dundee midfielder Gavin Rae, who was called up for the World Cup tie against San Marino last month only to see Boyd used as a substitute ahead of him as Scotland vainly tried to pile on the goals.
He said: "If Gavin Rae doesn't do well we'll leave him out, although we can always bring him back when he's older."
In my own personal opinion it sounds like our glorious International leader just doesn’t like the team that pulled him from Rangers reserves all those years ago. (1961-62).
Remember the previous snubs, Wright, Coyne, Brown, McCann and Duffy all received as players wearing the Dark blue. Scotland lost Coyne’s services to Eire due to the ineptitude of the Scottish hierarchy. Wright joined the wrong team in green. McCann saw the error of his ways soon enough and changed to the correct shade of blue after his short spell in maroon and Brown must still be the best player never to gain a cap along with Jim Duffy.
Maybe I’m wrong and Brown suffers from this Largs mentality that his predecessor Roxburgh stuck to so rigorously. You can’t play for your Country until you’re in your mid to late 20’s unless you play for Celtic, or Rangers.
Which ever it is, it has to be insulting to read the comments, your so called Coach makes about your ability. It's hardly confidence building Brown saying if he doesn’t do well he’s out. Surely he should be saying I have absolute confidence in my entire squad, they wouldn’t be in it, if I thought they weren’t up to the task.
Scotland must have had one of the oldest aged squads in the World in their past few games and when they do try to bring in youngsters, it almost sounds like our manager is scared they will play well, in case he’s forced to finally replace his old pals act.
The icing on the cake was the comment that Rab Douglas won’t be used, because his Goal Keeping Coach prefers consistency. Who picks the team? Friendlies in my humble opinion are the only games where you should experiment with your Keepers, to see if they can cope at International level.
This has been a longer rant than I intended, but I just realised how much the Scotland/Dundee scenario really irks me. It has to be remembered this isn’t a new phenomenon after all even back in our European Glory days we were overlooked, Wallace, Scott, Duncan and Allan to name a few.
I’d be interested to hear any other fans view on this treatment of our players.
----- Original Message -----
From: Alan Smith
To: Bob Laird
Sent: Saturday, April 21, 2001
Subject: Craig Brown's comments about Gavin Rae
Hi Boab,
Couldn't agree with you more.