Paranoid Barry Ferguson in ‘cheeky dig’ over Callum McGregor

Barry Ferguson has joined the paranoia over Callum McGregor being named as a substitute for Scotland’s 2-2 draw with Austria in Vienna. 

Five days before the Glasgow derby the Celtic skipper dropped onto the bench with Ryan Jack coming in to start the match. 

Last week McGregor made his 51st appearance of the season when Scotland drew 1-1 against Poland at Hampden, Jack replaced the Celtic midfielder for the last 13 minutes. 

In Vienna the Ibrox midfielder was in from the start, his 15th appearance of the season. With his club he has started just eight matches this season. 

To most observers it would be termed squad management but Ferguson had a slightly different take on it as the Football Scotland picked up on from listening in to Go Radio:  

A tongue-in-cheek Barry Ferguson remarked that “it was nice to see” Scotland boss Steve Clarke rest Callum McGregor ahead of the Old Firm derby at the weekend. 

The Celtic skipper played 77 minutes of the national team’s draw with Poland but was an unused substitute for the draw against Austria in Vienna last night. 

Perhaps if Ferguson had used squad management he wouldn’t have walked away from Alloa after winning just 10 out of 34 matches with the League One side including a Scottish Cup defeat from Celtic.