Aidan Smith: End of the ‘Affair’ still a long way off

Published on Sunday 26 February 2012 02:49

THOSE of us fascinated by the Steven Fletcher Affair – and Affair must be given capital letters now because it’s been going on so long – have gotten used to subsisting on scraps.

What happens is that Craig Levein unveils a Scotland squad and Fletcher isn’t in it. The manager will say something along the lines of the matter being resolvable with a phone call but that still hadn’t happened. The player, in turn, will say nothing and then everyone will disperse, only to reconvene a few months later and go through it all again.

“It’s become the Groundhog Day of national team business,” a hack chum told me after Levein’s 24 good men and true for the Slovenia friendly were named – not including the Wolverhampton Wanderers striker.

This time, though, we got a bit more. Two statements from the manager and a tweet from the player, all requiring closer scrutiny.

“In my opinion,” Levein said, “Steven doesn’t want to play for Scotland.” Then, when a journalist described Fletcher as “Scotland’s best striker”, the manager retorted: “Well, that’s your opinion.”

Now, it is traditional for a manager to talk up the players in possession of the jerseys. We all know how sensitive footballers can be. But is Levein really saying, by implication, that Fletcher is not at least the equal of those chosen? And does he actually believe this? If so I’d be worried.

Kenny Miller is still Scotland’s No.1 striker – no problem there. Usually left to fend for himself up front, he’s frequently heroic. He currently plays his football one division down from Fletcher, of course, as does Craig Mackail-Smith, when the latter can get in the Brighton team.

But no Scottish forward stars more regularly and scores more often in England’s Premier League than Fletcher: not David Goodwillie, not Jamie Mackie. At one stage this season, no-one in the top flight had scored more headed goals, once a dark blue speciality.

Surely none of this amounts to “opinion”. It’s not a subjective viewpoint to say that Steven Fletcher is doing quite well in the “world’s best league” right now. It’s a fact. There are no grey areas here. Fletcher is the most eye-catching Scot in the penalty area, end of.

It might be of interest to some that he didn’t score with many headers at Hibs. Left-foot zingers were his thing then. So he’s improved himself against top defenders but he’s always been a classy footballer, the degree of cunning in his runs and the coolness of his finishing being proof of that.

“Well,” Levein would doubtless repeat, “that’s your opinion.”

The manager has his position just as the player has his. But equally as baffling, if we’re to believe the little that Fletcher ever says, is Levein’s remark that the player doesn’t want to wear the dark blue.

Last September, granting one interview on the subject, Fletcher insisted he did. And last week’s tweet reacting to his omission from the latest squad was: “Maybe 1 day, ay?”

You might wonder if it’s Levein whom Fletcher doesn’t want to play for, not Scotland – in a similar fashion to all those Rangers players who spurned George Burley.

If all it will really take is one call then an enterprising phone company should be using Levein and Fletcher in their next advertising campaign. It could be a winning successor to “It’s good to talk”.

Meanwhile, another qualifying campaign is fast approaching. The last one began disastrously with 4-6-0 in Prague. Jamie Mackie, for his first cap, was picked ahead of Fletcher in a weird position.

Ironically the latter, understudying Derek Riordan and Garry O’Connor at Hibs, sometimes found himself out in left midfield – and that’s also when all the trouble started.

I’m not saying Fletcher would have made a difference that night, not in that dire formation, but we’ll need our best players this time.

The renegades, the sulkers… everyone.

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