Lee unhappy his quit plan was leaked to media

‘I told SFA in confidence’

Published:

career move: McCulloch wants to concentrate on his club football at Ibrox.

THE Scottish Football Association claim they intended to keep the news of Lee McCulloch’s international retirement quiet until after the World Cup qualifying double-header against Macedonia and Iceland.

Scotland manager George Burley insisted this week he knew nothing about McCulloch’s intentions after the story broke in the wake of Saturday’s 1-0 defeat in Macedonia.

Rangers midfielder McCulloch today says he spoke to SFA national team administrator Richard Simpson before the game in Skopje and claims the leak has now made him a hate figure in Scotland.

However, an SFA spokesman said they were waiting until later this week to reveal the news.

He said: “The situation was that a conversation took place between the player and a member of the SFA staff last week and it was agreed that nothing would be said until after the double-header.

“It was thought it was best to let George Burley concentrate on preparing for the games.

“As soon as it became public, the player and the manager spoke.

“The manager was satisfied by what Lee said to him, so the matter is resolved.”

McCulloch said he regretted the news impacting on Scotland’s preparations for the 2-1 win over Iceland, which got their World Cup qualification campaign back on track.

He said: “The timing was not good when the boys were trying to get themselves ready for a game.

“A lot of people didn’t know that I spoke to the SFA before the game to let them know my decision and I was hoping it was going to be between me, the manager and Richard Simpson.

“It doesn’t look too good. It looks as if I am trying to upset people, upset the manager the players, the nation. I think the whole nation hates me. I just wanted to let everyone know the truth.”

McCulloch revealed he had been considering his international future for almost a year, following Scotland’s European Championship qualifying defeat to Italy.

He said: “I’ve thought long and hard about stepping away from international football, for a lot of reasons, footballing reasons and family reasons. I don’t want to talk about family reasons but there are a whole lot of footballing reasons.

“I’ve thought about it since the Italy game, where it was bitter disappointment all round.”

McCulloch, who was left out of the squad for the matches in Macedonia and Iceland because of a knee injury, added: “Another footballing reason was I started picking up niggling injuries.

“I have to think about my club football, getting my form back and helping Rangers win the league.”