Just thinking that Leveins pig headed-ness on selecting Steven Fletcher may end up costing his job as the Scottish manager. Although he was returned to the fold for the game in Wales (where he was excellent and wrongly had a goal disallowed) and in Belgium against a very strong fancied team, has his inclusion come far too late to save Leveins position? If he had recalled him for the Serbia and Macedonia games at home, could Fletcher have been the difference to them having say 6 or 7 points today and the paltry 2 they actually have? They could have been sitting right on the shoulder of Croatia tonight and with everything to play for instead of already being dead and buried and Leveins position would be very safe with 6 games to go and 6 points up fro grabs v Croatia to come. Managers should be applauded for their determination and steadfast rules but not when it costs them and more importantly, the Scottish nation, any chance of qualification and for that reason alone I think he deserves to be sacked. I canât imagine an England manager getting off so lightly in the English press for say not picking a Shearer, Lineker or Rooney when the team was desperate for a goal scorer and the national team struggling so badly. Pig headed or just highly principled? Cutting ones throat to spite ones face just doesnt seem like clever management to me? What are your thoughts?
Dead man walking is that imbecile. How can he be in post when the likes of Strachan and McAlister are available.
His stubbornness has mostly likely cost him his job. Fletch was more than willing to come back and play for him at any point.
No one knows what went on behind the scenes though, if Fletcher had been a right cock, and I'm not saying that's the case, then Levein has done well to backtrack at all, I just think it's hard to judge when we don't know what went on between them.
They are going to have to offer daft money to any new manager. As they are on a hiding to nothing with the present crop of Scottish players. (A couple of players excepted.) A poison chalice if ever there was one.
We do know. Fletcher didn't want to play one pointless game. Levein then stated publicly he was going to punish him and he wouldn't play for Scotland whilst he was manager. Fletcher has publicly stated numerous times since then, he would love to play for Scotland again.
I would still have picked Fletcher but if he had no injury worries and just couldn't be arsed playing because it wasn't a major game then i can fully understand Levein's stance. What happened to pride in being capped for your country?
Can anyone ever remember the Scots actually going for it tho in any game. Whether its Fletch, McCoist, Miller whoever they only ever have 1 man upfront. Cant recall any Scots manager not just Levein, ever being willing to attack with 2 or 3 upfront and trying to win.
Perhaps everyone is missing the point on this. In that I mean if they (Scotland) had Fletcher and even someone as brilliant as, hypothetical speaking Messi, then do you really think that they would be any better off, personally i don't think so. Scotland have not produced somewhat of a decent team for years and IMHO deserve to be where they are in international football. Look at their league and you can see how much of a disarray they are in and I dont think they will recover for some years yet. They are where they deserve to be, a minnow in world football with the likes of Faroe Islands and San Marino. Harsh perhaps put its an honest appraisal. Back to the OPs question; if Fletcher was included in all of their qualifying games then I honestly think they would be in the same position. As for sacking the manager; you could have Ferguson, Mourhinio or even McClaren, they would be in the exact same position.
Scotland just don't have the quality players to compete. Who in their right mind would take the job on now, given they cannot realistically qualify, it's two years before they play any important games.
Nope. As a Scot, I can confirm that not even Messi or Ronaldo could make that squad anywhere near half decent let alone Fletcher. Should he have been dropped? No. As he was, Levein has to stand by that and be judged accordingly. He has not produced any results of note on a consistent basis and as such should be sacked.
So you dont think that a couple of Fletcher goals to win the 2 home games against Serbia and Macedonia would have made Leveins position much better? I didnt say Scotland woul;d have become Brazil overnight but certainly you havent performed as well as you could have and lets not forget, were it not for a totally ****ed up linesmans decision, you would have beaten Wales and add that to the 2 home games you may even be threatening Croatia right now despite having a poor squad of players. Its all conjecture of course but its not pure fantasy either.
I doubt he would have got the chances to put away. Yes we were better than Wales (who are a shambles apart from that diving ape) and Serbia and Macedonia are streets ahead of us even with Fletch in the side. Maybe I am being overly negative. I have been given a bad draw with football teams and it has made me constantly down on either teams chances but remember, the last time Scotland were in a major tournament, I was 11 (I am 25 now!)
