EXACTLY a year to the day after making his debut for Celtic at Ibrox in the 3-2 win over the Rangers, Scott Bain has tonight been elevated to the likely first choice pick for the national side after Allan McGregor hung up his international gloves.
In a surprise decision on the eve of Alex McLeish naming his squad for the opening two qualifiers against Kazakhstan and San Marino which will be played on 21 and 23 March. The former Scotland No.1 who was actually serving a lifetime ban from the SFA but that was, well you know, overlooked, tonight released the following statement.
“It’s a sad day for me to bring an end to my international career, but unfortunately I feel it is a decision I have to make.
“I am playing over 50 games each season, but I know my body and at this stage of my career I need to use the international breaks to rest up to help ensure that I play at the top level for as long as possible.
“This decision was an extremely hard one for me to make.
“It is also the start of a new campaign and it feels like the right time to step aside and allow the number of strong options we have to push on from here between the sticks.”
With McGregor out of the picture – re pushed ahead of Craig Gordon in the autumn matches against Israel and Albania – it’s going to be a choice for McLeish whether he opts for the veteran Celtic keeper or the man who has had the gloves at the Scottish Champions since the turn of the year – Scott Bain.
And while there’s some headlines about Gordon being on his holidays on that ‘Celtic’ site that is run by the Rangers News, the fact is that Gordon had an injection in his knee last week so was unavailable for the game against Aberdeen on Saturday, with Dutchman Dorus de Vries taking his place on the bench.
Alex McLeish is likely to go with Bain, who exactly one year after his Beautiful Sunday debut, is set to become Scotland’s No.1.
