Football: Brown plays diplomat to avert dispute with clubs

CRAIG BROWN, the Scotland manager, moved to avert a clubs-versus- country dispute last night by promising the managers of the players in his squad to face Germany a week tomorrow that he will return them to the domestic fray in the best possible condition.

Scotland's friendly in Bremen falls days before vital weekend fixtures, including a meeting of Celtic and Rangers which will have a strong bearing on the outcome of the Scottish championship race. The party announced yesterday included six players expected to figure in the Old Firm derby, as well as three from Everton and others from Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hearts and Blackburn, who are all battling against relegation.

"I've told the club coaches I'll use their players sparingly and I hope they'll trust me," Brown said. "Germany don't play friendlies and neither do we. They seem to be back in form, but we're not going there to be cannon fodder."

Even for a past master in patching up the ranks, the game in the Weserstadion promises an unprecedented test of Brown's powers of improvisation. There are already injury doubts concerning Leeds' David Hopkin, who left Charlton on crutches last Saturday after going over on an ankle, and the Celtic pair Paul Lambert (foot) and Jackie McNamara (knee).

Given the problems Brown is likely to encounter, Gary McAllister's decision to retire from international football after being booed at Celtic Park during the European Championship defeat by the Czech Republic appears all the more untimely. Scot Gemmill, who scored a fine goal for Everton at Newcastle on Saturday, takes his place.

Brian O'Neil, the former Celtic and Aberdeen centre-back whose only previous cap came against Australia three years ago, is recalled after some impressive displays for the Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg.

Brown admitted that if the match had been a competitive affair he would have picked the Aston Villa veteran, Colin Calderwood, ahead of O'Neil. "I want to use this game to find out about players I don't know enough about," he said. "O'Neil always had great potential - maybe it's taken the discipline instilled by German football to bring it out."

Scotland's desperate shortage of strikers means a first chance for the uncapped Robbie Winters, of Aberdeen. However, Brown's first-choice front two, call-offs permitting, will probably be Billy Dodds, who joined Dundee United in part exchange for the pacy Winters, and Don Hutchison, who won his first cap as substitute against the Czechs.

With just three goals each, Dodds and Craig Burley are joint top scorers in a squad with just 12 international goals between them. The fact that Lothar Matthaus alone has almost twice as many, having scored 22 times in 134 caps, highlights the disparity in resources between Brown and his German counterpart, Erich Ribbeck.

SCOTLAND SQUAD (Friendly v Germany, Bremen, 28 April): Douglas (Dundee), Main (St Johnstone), Sullivan (Wimbledon); Boyd (Celtic), Elliott (Leicester), Hendry (Rangers), O'Neil (VfL Wolfsburg), Ritchie (Hearts), Weir (Everton), Whyte (Aberdeen); Burley (Celtic), Davidson (Blackburn), Durrant (Kilmarnock), Gemmill (Everton), Hopkin (Leeds), Hutchison (Everton), Lambert (Celtic), McNamara (Celtic); Dodds (Dundee Utd), Jess (Aberdeen), Johnston (Sunderland), McCann (Rangers), Winters (Aberdeen).

German squad, Digest, page 25