Craig Brown has re-opened the controversy over why he never picked Richard Gough for Scotland.
Gough made his last international appearance in Scotland’s 5-0 hammering away to Portugal in 1993 while Andy Roxburgh was manager.
Brown replaced Roxburgh three months later but resisted the media campaign to pick the captain of Rangers.
Under the Graeme Souness and Walter Smith era at Ibrox, Gough and Ally McCoist were notorious for pulling out of midweek internationals due to injury only to complete a full recovery to play for their club at the weekend.
McCoist was a regular pick under Brown for Scotland, but tellingly after discussing the matter with Smith and Dave Murray, there was no clamour from Ibrox to have the Swedish born South African picked for Scotland.
“Sometimes as the number two you learn more, or you hear more, and players confide in you because you’re not the manager,” Brown told the state broadcaster BBC Radio Scotland.
“I watched and listened to what happened with Richard Gough, who I’ve got to say was an outstanding player. I didn’t pick him because of what I saw happening, what I heard, and I thought (leaving Gough out) is going to be good for the team spirit.
“I’ve never disclosed the issue, and I’ve written three autobiographies. Everyone asks me. In fact, one of the big papers in Scotland said, ‘If you tell us the Gough story, we’ll give you a bigger serialisation fee’. “I’m not going into it. Richard knows, and Walter Smith, the manager, and so does David Murray, because he asked me and I had a lunch with him.
“Yes (it will go to the grave), unless Richard wants (to explain it), it’s not anybody’s business. I may have been wrong, and I’m not saying I’m always right.
“At the beginning, it was (the biggest dilemma I faced), but I didn’t bat an eyelid. I said, ‘I’m going to do this job the way that I want to do it. If it doesn’t include Richard Gough, we lose a few games and the press say he should be in, then that’s it. I would rather do what I thought was right rather than pander to the media or to the club’.”
Brown added: “The significant thing is that never once did the Rangers manager or chairman complain about me not picking Richard Gough.
“If my argument had been weak, they would have slaughtered me because he was captain of Glasgow Rangers and you don’t leave out the captain of Glasgow Rangers unless you’ve got good cause to do so.
“When I’ve seen Richard – and I’ve met him I don’t know how many times since – there is never any aggro between us, we respect each other.”
Since leaving Ibrox in 1998 Gough, who captained the club during their tarnished nine-in-a-row era, has never been involved in any official capacity at Ibrox.
While jobs have been found for the likes of Mark Hateley, John Brown, Ian Durrant, Andy Goram and others Gough has been al most airbrushed out of the picture.
Recently he gave his backing to Dave King’s Ibrox 1972 group but hasn’t set foot in Scotland to offer anything more than long distance support to Mr King’s highly ambitious plans.
