FORMER Scotland manager Craig Brown believes that Rangers captain Barry Ferguson's days as an automatic choice for the national team could be coming under threat.
The Celtic pair of Scott Brown and Paul Hartley started in central midfield for Scotland as regular captain Ferguson missed Wednesday night's friendly match against Croatia through injury.
Ferguson is expected to be available for the next interna
tional match, the friendly encounter on 30 May against the Czech Republic in Prague, and although he is likely to come back into the team, Brown believes that new Scotland manager George Burley will have been impressed by his first midfield combination.
Burley had to cope with seven withdrawals from his squad on Monday, with 30-year-old Ferguson among four Rangers players ruled out by injury. The other Ibrox withdrawals were Allan McGregor, Christian Dailly and Lee McCulloch.
Brown, 67, told BBC Radio Scotland: "I said before the match that, of the seven named call-off players, I don't think any more than two would be first-choice players anyway.
"George will obviously have to consider the reintroduction of the captain Barry Ferguson, but of the others, I think they will have to fight for their places.
"The two central midfield players, Brown and Hartley, did very well, so even Barry might find it difficult to be an automatic selection."
Former manager Brown, the last man to lead Scotland to a major finals – the 1998 World Cup in France – was encouraged by the performance and the 1-1 outcome against Croatia at Hampden.
"I thought it was very impressive," he said. "Obviously there was a bit of hesitancy at the start but after the first 15 minutes I thought Scotland played exceptionally well.
"And everyone is full of praise regarding the calibre of the Croatian side so I think it is a significant result for George."
Stephen McManus, who was handed the captain's armband, is glad he was not among the Old Firm players who withdrew.
The Celtic captain said: "I would have missed out on a big opportunity for myself so I am pleased to have played against Croatia. It was one of the highlights of my career.
"It was a good game to play in and I think a draw was probably a fair result.
"We had a few chances and could maybe have sneaked it but they are a very good side.
"It was very competitive game but those are the best games to play in."
The full article contains 418 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
