Ferguson and McGregor verbally abused coach Pressley in hotel bar

Published on Saturday 4 April 2009 19:53

BARRY Ferguson and Allan McGregor verbally abused a member of Scotland's coaching staff when told to go to their beds during last Sunday's drinking session at Loch Lomond.

When Steven Pressley came down from his room in Cameron House Hotel close to half past midday, he spotted the desperadoes of Ibrox still drinking in the bar. When told to get themselves up to their rooms, the players told Pressley where to go in no uncertain terms.

The language towards Pressley was vulgar and unacceptable. It is believed that this was one of the main reasons why Ferguson and McGregor were dropped by manager George Burley from Wednesday night's team to face Iceland and other revellers were not. The others were deemed innocent of the charge of swearing at a coach and were therefore free of censure.

In another development, Burley has admitted he failed to appreciate the full significance of the V-signs at Hampden on Wednesday evening. On Thursday morning, at a press conference with Sunday newspaper reporters, he was shown a copy of a tabloid newspaper with the relevant image taking up half the front page.

Unprepared, Burley was initially reluctant to say anything on the matter. "I'm not getting involved in any of that," he said. "I'm just talking about the game. I'm just talking about football."

When pressed about the widely held view that the players had put two fingers up to the nation, he said: "Nobody's put two fingers to anything. At the end of the day, I could be sitting like that (putting his fingers to his face]. I'm not giving judgment on one picture, all I'm judging is the team. They (Ferguson and McGregor] could easily say whatever. You can't say definitely somebody's putting up two fingers."

Burley clarified his position 24 hours later when saying he hadn't had enough time on Thursday to appreciate the full implications of the V-sign saga. He met Gordon Smith later in the day, he said, and it was decided then that something had to be done. A day later the SFA issued a statement banning the players from Scotland duty for life.

Fraser Wishart, the head of the Scottish players' trade union, claimed yesterday that Ferguson and McGregor found out their Scotland careers were over from a radio report. "Nobody contacted the players and I think they were due that courtesy," Wishart said.