OF the many who have pulled out of Scotland’s ridiculous jaunt to Central and South America, falling off a horse was not an excuse written on any of the players’ sick notes by their mums.

This is what happened, anecdotally, to Kenny Burns in 1977 when Ally MacLeod took a strong squad to play Chile, Argentina and Brazil with more than half an eye on the World Cup – the Scots had not yet qualified – which was to take place in “the Argentine” the following year.

For the SFA at that (any) time, this was a pretty smart move in a football sense, although as all three countries were run by right-wing dictators – as if there are any liberal despots – the tour was controversial to say the least.

Read more: Ian Maxwell says he will be nobody's puppet as chief executive of the SFA​

Burns had just moved from Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest where he would become a two-time European Cup winner under Brian Clough, and was named in the original squad.

Read more: Martin Skrtel won't be joining former Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard at Rangers

The story goes, and let’s keep going with it, the bold Kenny was at a wedding, maybe even one of his own, enjoyed a drink or two, spotted a horse in a field, jumped on for a laugh, fell off, and injured himself.

Even without such tomfoolery, Alex McLeish has been left with a squad, which left for Peru yesterday, the manager himself described as “thin.” It was always going to be thus. As summer tours go, this is right down there with the time the Village People decided to play Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

This isn’t McLeish’s fault. He was appointed long after the now departed Stewart Regan decided it would be a hoot to drag tired players halfway across the world to play two utterly meaningless games in difficult conditions; ergo, cutting into their much-needed rest time before pre-season begins in just a few weeks from now.

Read more: Rangers legend Willie Henderson to walk 100 miles across the Sahara for charity

With every due respect, given how many won’t travel, and it’s mostly our best players, there is a case to be made that this is the weakest Scotland international squad of all time.

Good luck to those that are going. Hopefully, John McGinn can continue to impress. The same goes for Scott McKenna and it would be nice to think the highly-rated Scott Tominay returns with some credit in the bank.

But while I do understand that McLeish would want a game or games now, there is no way on earth that he, the players or their clubs can believe the miles they are going to have to put in.

The football season is far too long. The summer break too short. There are too many games, and European matches begin in July which will be here before we know it. In late May, nobody who has played a full season is fully fit. Everyone has a tweak somewhere. The body and mind need rest.

Read more: Mikael Lustig: Will Rangers be any better under Steven Gerrard than they were under Pedro Caixinha? We'll see​

All McLeish (above) can hope for is nobody gets injured – far from a guarantee – and one or two put their hands up ahead of the qualifiers against Israel and Albania, in the Eurovision Song Contest or whatever the baffling new tournament is called.

But the best players aren’t there and were never going to be. You can only hope that the SFA’s new boss, Ian Maxwell, might actually consider the players when such decisions are taken in the future.

I have been on such summer trips as part of the travelling media and while they were enjoyable and come with some unprintable memories from jaunts to Japan and the United States, managers, coaches and players see them only as an inconvenience.

Read more: Murdo MacLeod: Celtic have managed transfer market better than any club in Britain

I really feel for the likes of Sam Nicholson and Danny Wilson, both are now plying their trade in the MLS, who will know they are going along to make up the numbers, maybe never to be seen again. I only hope they get one right good night out because that’s a lot of hassle for a 10-minute cameo in a friendly.

Maxwell yesterday spoke really for the first time about his role as the SFA chief executive and, by all accounts, the new man in charge handled himself extremely well. Even if to my ears some of his comments reeked of SFA jargon.

“I think I bring a unique understanding of Scottish football across every level,” he claimed. Just a smidgeon of understanding of the bleeding obvious would be a huge improvement on too many of his predecessors.