Black and white decisions

Sports Writer

Thursday 3 November 2011

interview Billy Stark wary of sharing players between different squads, writes Stewart Fisher

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Stewart Fisher

As he named his squad for the visit to Nijmegen in the Netherlands on November 14, Billy Stark was in the rare position of having to decide whether the nation, not to mention each player’s development, was better served by 20 minutes in a friendly in Cyprus with the full squad or the full 90 minutes of a crucial Israel 2013 qualifier at under-21 level.

Welcoming the in-form James Forrest and the prolific Jordan Rhodes back into the fold was simple enough -- even if the Huddersfield striker will jet in from the full team’s friendly in Cyprus just 24 hours before kick-off -- but Stark so far has declined the opportunity to make room for Blackburn Rovers centre-half Grant Hanley.The under-21 coach is an admirer of Hanley and could yet call him up in the event of injuries but feels his team may have plenty of defending to do in the Netherlands and is happy to go with the likes of Danny Wilson and Ross Perry.“Grant is obviously a full international and a centre-half who would improve us, but I haven’t had him for a year and a lot of the players don’t know him,” Stark said. “I’ll work with the players from the Wednesday so for a centre-half to turn up on the Sunday it throws the organisation into doubt a little bit. Had Grant not been needed for the big squad then he’d have been in and working with us. But defensively we’ve been sound and it would be a disruption for Grant to turn up at the last minute and play. Jordan has been with us a full year and as a centre-forward his position is different and he knows exactly what we are looking for.”Stark is at pains to point out there is no turf war between him and Craig Levein and one area where there is no room for ambiguity is the return of Forrest.The 20-year-old has played only fleetingly at under-21 level -- he came off the bench to set up Chris Maguire’s winner against Austria which took the Scots to a play-off place in the last campaign -- and Stark feels he is a player who should have the confidence to take on a Dutch side on their own patch in a match which could well define Scotland’s ambitions of a play-off place for the finals in Israel.Cor Pot’s side -- featuring former Rangers trialist Nacer Barazite, Chelsea youngster Patrick van Aanholt and Daley Blind, son of Ajax stalwart Danny -- have a perfect record so far, while the Scots have suffered underwhelming home draws against Bulgaria and Austria.Forrest may not be as gallus as Barry Bannan, a player whom Stark gives a glowing recommendation -- “in my experience there is not an ounce of badness or stupidity in him” -- but Stark feels the Celtic winger has an inner confidence which is unaffected by the increasing demands on him by the Parkhead crowd.“What James can bring is European class, pace and he’s also a talented footballer,” he said. “I wouldn’t have thought he’d be top scorer at Celtic at this time -- that’s a great addition to his game and something he’s not been able to do through the levels. I was at the game at Celtic Park on Saturday. One or two said he didn’t do this or that but he did more than okay for a young lad. You can’t produce the performances he did in the second half against Kilmarnock in every game. At the Old Firm if you’ve had a level of praise then round the corner is a level of criticism or abuse you’d never imagine possible and James has shown he can handle that.”Stark must also take a fair share of the credit for unearthing Rhodes, who has five goals in five starts at under-21 level, not to mention 14 goals in six games in all competitions last month.Stark feels he is “the most natural goalscorer” he has ever worked with at this level. “He’s shown he can score prolifically and he’ll be in the top scorers in the 21s qualifiers so far,” Stark said. “I get the feeling he’s really unhappy if he hasn’t scored.”

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