DARREN Fletcher probably didn't do Kris Boyd's already bleak chances of team selection much good in a Soccer AM interview hours before the Scotland v Norway World Cup qualifier.
Each week the Sky Sports cult show asks players to dish the dirt on t
heir team-mates and captain for the day Fletcher certainly did that on Boyd under the category of 'Worst Trainer'.
The Manchester United midfielder said of Boyd, who quit the Scotland international side at the weekend after being left on the bench by Burley: "He hardly moves, doesn't run, doesn't like doing anything, but put the ball in the box and he will score nine times out of ten. He's one of the best finishers I've seen but in terms of enthusiasm and work rate he's probably the worst trainer."
Fletcher went on to nominate James McFadden as the best trainer, Alan Hutton as the quickest player, David Weir as the slowest, McFadden or Barry Ferguson as the biggest moaner, and Stephen McManus as the 'hard man' of the team. To finish on a bum note, Christian Dailly won the vote for worst taste in music.
Cloughie sets the bench markKRIS Boyd's decision to walk out on Scotland while they are managed by George Burley has stirred up the biggest debate ever concentrated on a substitute, and the message boards at scotsman.com have been in overdrive.
One poster suggested Boyd should have handled the matter with a little more humility and recounted the anecdote where Martin O'Neill tapped on Brian Clough's door and asked why he was in Nottingham Forest's second team. "Because you're far too good for the third team son," replied Cloughie.
Iwelumo clips run out of townCHRIS Iwelumo probably feels he owes Kris Boyd a big favour given the way that the petulant Rangers striker stole the back page headlines away from him after his horror miss.
Iwelumo had more cause to feel that his luck might be turning yesterday when several of the clips of his open goal were mysteriously blocked on YouTube yesterday. According to the message "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by New York Road Runners Club". We are still working on the how and why?
TALES FROM THE TABS
SPELLING FOR STELLINGJEFF Stelling, the anchorman star of Sky's Gillette Soccer Saturday live results show, has been unveiled by the Sun as the new presenter of Countdown.
According to the report, Stelling has been identified as the perfect man to succeed retiring presenter Des O'Connor, and he will be allowed to continue in his Sky role when he starts work on the Channel 4 show.
Staying in TV-land, the Scottish Sun speaks to new Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton, who is the sister of Kilmarnock midfielder Gavin Skelton, and dates his former Gretna team-mate David Graham, who now plays for Hamilton Accies.
However Miss Skelton, from Kirkby Thore near Penrith, is eager to quash any notions that she lives a WAG lifestyle. "I'm lucky to get a Chinese after a match on Saturday night never mind champagne, and there's no Bentley in the garage as David can't drive," she said.
She clearly hasn't converted to a diehard Accies fan either, revealing: "I'd love David to move to an English club but his biggest ambition is to play for Celtic."
The full article contains 568 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
