Kenny Dalglish has got it all wrong when he says that Scott Brown is wrong to retire from international football.
After a decade of failures with the Scotland team Brown decided to opt out of another qualifying campaign to concentrate on his club game.
Celtic have been rewarded with their skipper back to his best with his performance against Manchester City last week showing he can go toe-to-toe with the biggest names in the business.
Brown is currently enjoying a 14 day break while Gordon Strachan attempts to keep Scotland in contention for Russia 18 after failing to even reach the play-off’s for this summer’s European Championship finals in France.
Despite the evidence of the benefits for the player and Celtic Dalglish believes that Brown was wrong to draw the curtain down on his Scotland career.
“It’s always strange when you hear of players retiring from international football,” he said at Hampden yesterday. “I thought you had to be selected before you could retire. I don’t understand that one.
“Okay, he might have had some injury problems but if I was being picked for my country I’d always go.
“Scott has been fantastic for Celtic and for Scotland and we are not in a position where we
can afford to lose people of his quality.
“His performance against Manchester City last week was exceptional and that lets you know we’ll miss him.”
“If he thinks it will prolong his career, there’s no reason to argue against it. He did what he thought was right but it’s fantastic to play for your country.”
Dalglish played in an era when you could win the European Cup over nine matches, so far this season Brown has played in eight European ties.
It may seem strange to Dalglish but Brown won’t be the last player in his thirties to decide that a decade of international football is more than enough.
