Burley Earns His Second Chance

By Zain Alvi | 16th September 2009

Burley Earns His Second Chance | read this item

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george-burley With the commencement of the UEFA Champions League group stages this midweek, an important piece of news was relegated to the back of most reporting outlets. Perhaps another reason behind the lack of coverage for the story in question was the refusal, on part of most football lovers, to recollect any part of the uninspiring internationals break. However, it is my pleasure to announce to all Premiership Talk readers that Scotland has done the right thing: George Burley has retained his position as the gaffer of the national team.

In hindsight, it is very easy to jump to conclusions when a national team falls short of qualification for the extremely prestigious FIFA World Cup. After all, over the course of two long years, the goal of the entire team – led by an under pressure manager – is to make the finals of football’s greatest stage. Hence, based on merely a quick review, one cannot help but feel that under Burley, the Scots have once again disappointed on the grandest of occasions.

After a thorough observation of the situation, however, it is only pragmatic thinking to conclude that Burley is definitely not deserving of the notorious axe. The bottom line is that the man was never allowed to settle into his job in the first place. From the termination of star duo Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor in the aftermath of the infamous ‘boozegate’ affair to the withdrawal of key goalscorer Kris Boyd, Burley’s Scotland had to constantly learn how to adapt.

To their credit, despite struggling in almost each of their fixtures, the Scots initially seemed to have mastered the art of grinding out at least a point in even the toughest of outings. However, the constantly changing personnel left Burley with no option but to field an extremely experimental line up against Norway earlier this year. On that fateful evening in Oslo, his side was emphatically put to the sword in a 4-0 humiliation that set up an unenviable task of overcoming a must-win scenario.

Keeping in mind that the European qualification for the FIFA World Cup needs near perfection anyways, Burley remained unfazed as he approached the crunch two-game spell that would go on to seal his team’s fate enroute to South Africa 2010. As it turned out, the Scots tamed Macedonia to set up a mouthwatering clash with the already qualified group leaders, The Netherlands.

The occasion was huge and the Hampden Park crowd expectedly went on to become the 12th man right before the kick-off. The Dutch visitors were subsequently overwhelmed as Burley’s organized tactics led to several chances created by the hosts during a very impressive first half display. Unfortunately, the failure to convert their chances came back to haunt the desperate Scots, who were undone by a late strike from prodigal young striker Eljero Elia.

As expected, the tabloidization of this affair led to quite a few questions asked of Burley. While the Scottish manager received great backing from many pundits who felt that he had only worked wonders with his limited resources, Tuesday’s decisive meeting was needed to verify the Scottish FA’s faith in the services of Burley. Now that the correct decision has been made in favor of Burley, I congratulate the Scottish FA for understanding the intricate circumstances surrounding their nation’s tough World Cup qualification campaign.

While a third-place finish is surely not a feat that anyone in this part of Britain will be celebrating, a bright football mind can certainly detect that Scotland’s performances delivered the element of promise, which commands a great level of importance by itself. As someone who has often been an advocate of maintaining a status quo within the management (as much as possible, at least), I consider it very refreshing to see that George Burley will continue to manage the Scotland national team. Besides, don’t we all deserve a second chance?

Does George Burley deserve his place in the Scotland hotseat? Have your say below!