By Anthony Harwood

If Scotland do eventually qualify for the World Cup finals its captain will not be open to the same charges of hypocrisy as his English counterpart if he draws attention to Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers.

That’s the view of Gary Neville, who believes that some footballers are not in a position to start lecturing others on human rights abuses.

The former Manchester United player singled out Harry Kane after the England captain promised to ‘shine a light’ on the tiny Gulf state, which has been heavily criticised over migrant labour used to build the tournament’s stadiums.

Neville pointed out that Manchester City, the club Kane wanted to sign for last year, is owned by an Abu-Dhabi based group that have ‘similar issues’ as the World Cup hosts.

He also took a swipe at players like England full back Kieran Trippier, who plays for Newcastle United, which was controversially taken over by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, a country which put to death 81 people in a single day last month.

“If we have a problem with Qatar, then we also should have a big problem with Abu Dhabi,” said Neville. “We should also have a problem with Saudi Arabia.”

Neville also made a wider point which is that all the countries in the Middle East have human rights issues due to kafala, the widespread system of sponsored labour that allows unscrupulous bosses to keep workers in servitude.

In all there are 23 million migrants, mainly from South Asia and East Africa, working across the Gulf region in both construction and domestic labour.

Qatar 2022 is the first World Cup to be held in the Middle East but there will be more, and the tournament should be held there every 20 years, argues Neville.

So, get used to winter tournaments to avoid the searing summer heat, get used to special drinking zones for fans in countries where alcohol is banned and get used to more tales of migrant labour abuse that will inevitably accompany the construction of 40,000 capacity, FIFA-approved stadiums.

Neville continues “Then we say to ourselves, should the Middle East have a World Cup? No Muslim countries have had a World Cup before. So we have to have a World Cup in a Muslim country because football is here to join people together and overcome change”.

The problem FIFA will face is that as a result of the outcry over Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers football’s world governing body introduced a special human rights panel to adjudicate on future bids to host the tournament.

This innovation is thought to be why a move to increase this year’s tournament to 48 teams failed because it would have meant expanding into other Gulf countries where the infrastructure was not in place and the issue of migrant labour rights would again arise.

So in order for future World Cups to be awarded to Middle East countries, the bids by host countries are going to have to pass human rights test which most would fail today.

Due to having the spotlight of the World Cup on it for the past ten years Qatar has been forced to get its act together, by abolishing kafala, introducing a minimum wage and improving workplace rights.

But its critics, like Amnesty International, say that change is not happening fast enough, and this scrutiny will only intensify as the tournament nears.

Even Qatar’s one time sternest critic, Sharan Burrow, head of the International Trade Union Congress, which first predicted 4000 workers would die building the world cup in Qatar, has changed her tune.

Due to reforms in the tiny Gulf state she now says it has the “best labour laws in the Gulf” because kafala – dubbed modern day slavery – has been abolished and people can leave their jobs without employer’s permission.

Gulf countries seeking to host future World Cups are going to have to give assurances that the problems which have bedevilled Qatar will not be repeated. This will be difficult because, as Qatar has discovered, much of bad practices have been carried out by unscrupulous contractors seeking to cut corners.

For countries like Saudi Arabia, the problems FIFA will face will not just be migrant worker ones, but human rights in general. The hue and cry over Qatar will be nothing compared to that over a country which has been bombing Yemen back to the Dark Ages, executes political protestors and kills dissident journalists, like Jamal Khashoggi.

So fans and players of Premier League clubs like Manchester City and Newcastle have to be careful about dishing it out.

It’s not a problem, of course, for the Scottish captain, Andrew Robertson, whose club, Liverpool, is owned by the US-based Fenway Sports Group Holdings.

Should he lead his team to Qatar, he will be able to shine a light on the country’s treatment of migrant workers without fear of being called a hypocrite.

Anthony Harwood is a former foreign editor of the Daily Mail