Scotland squad: Manager and player both deserve credit for ending impasse, says Andy Goram

By MARTIN HANNAN
Published on 03/10/2012 00:00

As someone who was not immune to managerial fallouts himself, former Scotland international goalkeeper Andy Goram yesterday heaved a sigh of relief at the end of the Steven Fletcher saga.

The recall of the Sunderland striker to the Scotland squad by manager Craig Levein for the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Wales and Belgium may have come just in time, according to Goram.

“We need all the help we can get,” said Goram. “If they’ve both swallowed a bit of pride then it needed doing, if only for the good of the country.

“We can’t do without Fletcher and we can’t do without Jordan Rhodes – we’ve got £20 million worth of strikers there. Whether it’s too late and after the first two games we’ve missed out, I don’t know. Certainly, it’s good to have him back.”

Both manager and player deserve “a bit of credit” according to Goram, who said both men would have “regretted it” had they not sorted things out. “There’s a lot of negatives going around,” he added.

“It’s the same with the Ryder Cup. There are people saying the USA chucked it – but well done Europe. Turn it around, give them a bit of credit for getting their heads together and getting it back. Fair play to them.

“There’s a lot of rumours and counter rumours about what happened but only those two will know. But it’s gone on too long.

“We’re not a country that can pick and choose any more. There isn’t a massive amount of players we can choose from.”

So is Scotland’s World Cup campaign capable of being salvaged? Goram thinks the clue could be Fletcher’s performances in the lone striker department at Sunderland.

“It’s going to be awfully difficult,” said Goran. “He [Levein] wanted the first two home games to get a good start and it’s not happened. It’s going to be difficult, although it could suit us away from home, the way we play. It’s similar to the Rangers situation where they got to the Uefa Cup final, defending OK and playing on the break with one up front. Whether that’s the way he’ll go, I don’t know – but I think it’ll suit us better.

“Fletch’s been scoring goals down there for clubs you wouldn’t class as top ten. At Sunderland now he’s scoring at a decent level. He’s a good, good player.”

Goram expects the rest of the Scotland players to respect Levein’s decision. He added: “Craig’s got to be strong and now and say, ‘I’ve made the decision.’ He made the decision not to pick him so he doesn’t have to justify the decision to everybody now that he’s done it.”

So how many times exactly did Goram fall out with his manager? “Every week!” he quipped. “I had a famous one with Craig Brown, but that was different circumstances again. And Richard Gough had his with Andy Roxburgh.”

Goram had a plausible explanation as to why these ego clashes occur: “Footballers are so single-minded and the higher up you play, you’ve got to be a different animal, especially with the Old Firm. And you do get that attitude where it’s, ‘this is the way I’m going to play it’ and you can’t play for the Old Firm unless you’ve got that attitude.”

“Footballers are stubborn – probably more stubborn than most, as people know. But it’s good that it’s all finished and we can get on with playing. Just a pity that it didn’t happen two games ago.”

Goram was speaking at the launch of former Motherwell team-mate and good friend Kevin Twaddle’s autobiography Life on the Line, How to lose a Million and More.

Twaddle’s searing memoir recounts his horrendous addiction to gambling and his inspirational fightback, and as someone who is recovering from an addiction to alcohol, Goram has nothing but admiration for “Twadds” as he calls him. “People are talking about the gambling situation, but they forget what a good player he was,” said Goram. “He will admit himself that he should have been playing at a higher level at some point in his career. I got a text from him a few years ago one night around 8.30 or 9 and it said ‘on this minute seven years ago I scored the winner at Parkhead against Celtic.’ Motherwell beat Celtic with ten men and he remembered the exact minute and exact date he scored that goal – and he says he’s not a Rangers fan!”

Goram added: “It’s a great thing what he is doing, showing the younger players that are coming through what can happen. I’ve not been drinking for 11 months and, if I could do the same thing for young players, if someone can learn from it and not go down the road that Kevin did and I did with the drink, then it would help everybody.”