Football: Roxburgh to rethink

ANDY ROXBURGH, the Scotland coach, has had no option but to operate an open-door policy for his squad to face Germany in a friendly international at Ibrox on Wednesday.

With nine of the original squad of 21 players having withdrawn, Roxburgh questioned the importance given to the national team in Scotland. 'What can be done to protect it?' he asked. 'Other countries have so few call-offs I could accurately predict the line-up of almost any European country we might face.'

Six Rangers players who took part in the derby at Celtic Park, Andy Goram, David Robertson, David McPherson, Stuart McCall, Ally McCoist and Ian Durrant, pulled out on Saturday as did Alex McLeish, the the Aberdeen defender. They were joined yesterday by Maurice Malpas (Dundee United) and Paul McStay (Celtic).

The coach responded by bringing in a Dundee United quartet of Alan Main, Jim McInally, Billy McKinlay and Dave Bowman, and the Aberdeen pair, Brian Irvine and Gary Smith.