outburstScottish football bosses last night slammed former skipper Barry Ferguson, declaring: Your timing stinks.
The attack came after the ex-Rangers and Scotland star hit out yesterday at his treatment by officials in the aftermath of the “Bevvygate” scandal, which saw him receive a lifetime ban from international football back in April.
SFA chief executive Gordon Smith and Scotland No 2 Terry Butcher described Ferguson’s outburst – coming just 48 hours before a crucial World Cup qualifier with Norway – as “no accident”, but pledged it would not deflect from the target of winning in Oslo tomorrow.
Smith said: “The timing of this is exactly what you would expect and is no accident. At the moment, though, I
prefer to concentrate on the game in Norway which is very important to
our World Cup hopes.
“I have nothing personal against Barry Ferguson.”
Fergie, who admitted he had been in the wrong to
go on an all-night boozing session after defeat to Holland and before a
midweek qualifier against Iceland last March, said the SFA’s handling
of the situation had been a shambles. The midfielder, who left Ibrox
for Birmingham City, said: “I made a costly mistake but what rankles
with me is the way the SFA handled the entire situation. It was a joke.
“I had played for my country 45 times and they sent a fax to Murray Park saying I’d never play for my country again.
“No
one ever spoke to me from the Scotland set-up. Not the manager, the
chief executive, a PR guy, anyone. No phone call, no anything. That for
me sums up the SFA. They don’t know how to handle anything properly.”
Butcher
insisted the squad would not be affected by Fergie’s outburst, adding:
“This is our biggest match for a while so the timing is bad, but we
have more important things to worry about.
“A
few of the lads will probably hear of his comments but it won’t bother
them because they are here with a big job ahead of them and Barry is
not.”
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