Farewell to all this

Chief football writer

Sunday 13 May 2012

CRAIG Levein brought closure to the Steven Fletcher controversy last night by revealing he will never consider the striker for Scotland again.

Craig Levein says his decision over Steven Fletcher is not personal but for the good of the team Photograph: SNS

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Michael Grant

The Wolves forward and Levein have at been at odds for more than a year, since Fletcher refused select- ion for a Carling Nations Cup tie against Northern Ireland. Fletcher had not been used in the three games leading up to that and sent SFA official Frank Reilly a text which said "tell him I don't want to play".

Fletcher's goalscoring record in the English Premier League has put pressure on Levein to end the stand-off but at no point has Fletcher shown enthusiasm for being capped again. If the 25-year-old is to add to his eight caps and one goal for Scotland it will have to be when Levein is no longer the manager, because even a public apology will not change the situation now."This decision has been a bit of time in coming," said Levein. "It's now 15 months since Steven Fletcher sent a text saying 'tell him I don't want to play'. Those were the words. I'm very much looking at us going into a new World Cup campaign – and I consider the USA and Australia games as warm-ups for the qualifiers – and what I don't want to do is be going into this campaign with a distraction. So effectively, from now, I won't be considering Steven Fletcher for any of the friendlies or competitive matches."The decision has been taken by Levein and is not a Scottish Football Association ban. "This is purely me, acting in what I think are the best interests of the national team. I just won't consider him for select-ion, that's all. It's not a ban. It's a football decision based on evidence. I have given [SFA chief executive] Stewart Regan the courtesy of letting him know."That's it finished now. I can't afford to go into this campaign with the same distractions I had in the last one. I've looked at a lot of things that we've learned from the last qualifiers and what's really important to me is that we have a group of players who value playing for Scotland. It sounds such a simple thing but they are desperately keen on playing for their country. I would be doing them a disservice if I was to consider putting anyone in the squad who was less than 100% certain about playing for their country."It's very evident to me that if you're absolutely desperate to play for your country, sending a text [to say so] isn't the hardest thing to do. For me that's a clear indication that he's not 100% certain it's the right thing for him. It would be very, very unfair on the rest of the players. They have made huge efforts to be available to play for their country. Do I want somebody like Steven Fletcher or do I want somebody like Darren Fletcher, someone who has put his health on the line contin-ually to play for his country?"This isn't about the individual qualities of the player. This is about the team. There will be his side of the story in the days and weeks to come, but what I'm saying is that I have made the decision. There's no going back on this. That's it, finished. Done."Fletcher played only once under Levein, in a 3-0 friendly defeat in Sweden in August 2010, but the manager claimed to have had no problem with his attitude before the text row blew up. "He was fine. I've not had a problem with him, not had an issue at all. This isn't personal, it's important to understand that. I don't know the boy particularly well."When asked if he was sad the issue had not been settled with Fletcher agreeing to return, Levein said: "Not sad, no. I'm focused on what's best for Scotland, for the national team. It isn't about football ability. Don't get me wrong, he's not Kenny Dalglish, he's not the best player Scotland has ever had. But this is about the group, about the rest of the squad."Meanwhile, after an extensive survey of the players, Levein is to change some aspects of how the Scotland squad are managed and treated. Over the past six months 44 players were surveyed, and 14 interviewed, under the stewardship of high performance consultant Alistair Gray. Levein said there had been, or would be, changes to training facilities and training practices, and changes to the way players were notified about whether or not they were in the squad. The squad will also travel wearing tracksuits because they were preferred to suits. "I want the players to know that it's not my team it's their team," said Levein. "I want them to have a say in how things are run so they have some ownership of the team."Scotland face the USA in Jacksonville on Saturday, May 26, and Australia at Easter Road on August 15, before the World Cup qualifying campaign begins

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Farewell to all this

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