Anthony Brown: We shouldn’t get begging bowl for Fletcher

When Kris Boyd walked out on Scotland after seeing, ironically, the untried Steven Fletcher sent on before him in a World Cup qualifier at home to Norway in 2008, the consensus was that the player had committed the ultimate sin.

A nation united in scorn at the then-Rangers goal machine for disrespecting the dark blue jersey. Then Fletcher effectively did the same when he declined a call-up from Craig Levein for a Carling Nations Cup match last February in protest at being left in the stand for a Euro 2012 qualifier in Czech Republic in October 2010 and then left out of the squad entirely for a friendly against Faroe Islands.

The fact the Wolves striker was far from an established internationalist and had been inept in a 3-0 friendly defeat in Sweden two months before Prague had clearly slipped his mind as he entered a Boyd-esque strop. Yet the chief difference between Boyd and Fletcher’s situations is that there’s been a far greater public clamour for the latter to be recalled. Amazing how principles go out the window when a player looks half-decent.

That he isn’t available for a recall, however, is entirely down to his own petulance. Levein has done nothing wrong here, yet is coming under unfair pressure to resolve the situation, while Fletcher is fawned over by a Scots public who would be viewing him merely as a traitor if his goal tally wasn’t so impressive. The feeling among those desperate to see Fletcher return is that the onus is on Levein to get his begging bowl out and head to Wolverhampton, or that a third-party should get involved and knock their heads together. Or even that Fletcher should be called-up and then challenged to turn up.

None of these options, however, are as clear-cut as they seem and, to this observer, Levein has done all he can reasonably be expected to do without undermining his authority.

He has maintained all along that Fletcher will be welcomed back as soon as he makes it known that he wants to return. Levein, to his credit, has not indulged in a slanging much and has not demanded an apology. He is merely trying to uphold rules. Yet all we’ve heard from the player in return was that he’d “look like an absolute k***” if he approached Levein.

Quite the contrary. Fletcher would gain public respect if he made an attempt to resolve a rift which is entirely of his own making. If Levein approaches Fletcher, however, he would merely be handing the player all the aces and indulging the type of “Play me or I quit” attitude which has otherwise been absent from the squad under the ex-Hearts manager.

The notion that Levein should include Fletcher in a squad and see what happens is plain ridiculous as it would hardly be conducive to squad harmony if the pair had to work with each other while all personal issues remained unaddressed.

In Miller, Rhodes, Goodwillie, McCormack, Mackail-Smith and Mackie, we have good attacking options by modern-day Scottish standards. This group of low-end Premier League and top-end Championship players (League One Rhodes excepted) are not as far behind Fletcher quality-wise as the hype-merchants would have you believe.

That said, Fletcher would undoubtedly be an asset to Scotland and if he apologises and says he is happy to play under Levein – and sit on the bench if necessary – then everyone’s a winner except the poor guy left out the squad to make way. But, until he shows some remorse – and it is assumed Wolves boss Mick McCarthy will have tried to make him see sense – you have to wonder if any efforts to recall him are really worth the bother. All the more so when comparing Fletcher’s attitude to Scotland over the past year or so with that of his wholehearted namesake, Darren.