THE Scottish Football Association are set to press on with the national side’s summer friendlies in South America, despite misgivings from several Scottish Premiership clubs over the timing of the trip.
Scotland are set to travel to take on Peru and Mexico at the end of the season, and Celtic in particular have made their displeasure plain with a large percentage of their squad likely to be called upon.
Their manager Brendan Rodgers has written to the game’s governing body to urge ‘common sense’ over the selection of his players, expressing concern over the physical effect it will have on his men ahead of the crucial early season Champions League qualifiers.
"We hope to make it through to the Scottish Cup final which takes you through to May 19, if you then have eight of your players at least going on a friendly tour to South America, I don't think it is helpful for Celtic,” said Rodgers after the trip was announced, with the Parkhead boss having particular concerns about the effects of too much football on his younger players.
"Players will play 60 games plus, plus international games so that makes it extremely difficult, especially for the young players like Kieran Tierney who are starting out on their careers and have made great starts.
"You don't want them to be broken and burnt out too early in their career because of the number of games.
"Footballers are not machines, they are human beings and they need that mental and physical recovery at times.”
The organisation of the friendlies was at least part of the reason that SFA chief executive Stewart Regan’s position came under scrutiny last week, with the rest of the association’s board unhappy about being kept in the dark about the details of the trip.
But the departure of Regan as chief executive doesn’t mean that the SFA will now look to back out of the games on the other side of the Atlantic.
Meanwhile, the SFA’s search for a new chief executive is likely to follow the same processes and procedures that led to Regan being selected back in 2010, with a head-hunting firm assessing candidates from across the business sector.
Hibernian chief executive Leann Dempster was understood to be an early frontrunner to take on the role, but the SFA board will be considering candidates from outside of football as well as from within the game.
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