I'm sick of hearing about Steven Fletcher, says Scotland striker Kenny Miller

IN the aftermath of a tepid 0-0 draw with Serbia, the clamour for the manager and the dissident striker to sort out their differences has reached deafening proportions, but Miller doesn’t buy into it.
Steven Fletcher in action for Sunderland Steven Fletcher in action for Sunderland

SCOTLAND’S players sweated buckets for the country on Saturday and got pelters for failing to beat Serbia.

Meanwhile, one player who could have helped them do so was being pictured in a bar in Ibiza with a bottle of Buckie in his hand.

Yet Steven Fletcher is being lauded as a potential saviour of Scotland’s World Cup dream. Which he isn’t, of course, because he doesn’t want to play for us. Or doesn’t want to play for Craig Levein at least.

Weird isn’t it? Fletcher becomes a better Scotland player with every game he doesn’t play.

His shadow hangs over every striker who misses a chance and you would think it would be winding them up.

But speak to Kenny Miller about it and he’ll tell you he couldn’t care less. Fletcher is a non-person in the Scotland camp and will continue to be so until the day he deigns to pull on a blue shirt again.

In the aftermath of a tepid 0-0 draw with Serbia, the clamour for the manager and the dissident striker to sort out their differences has reached deafening proportions, but Miller doesn’t buy into it.

Yes, he would welcome the £14million Sunderland striker back but, as it is unlikely to happen, he believes it is a moot point.

That said you get the feeling the Scotland captain was less than impressed by the images of Fletcher that appeared in the Sunday Mail the day after the Serbia match.

Fletcher poses with pals and a bottle of Buckfast during his stay in Ibiza Fletcher poses with pals and a bottle of Buckfast during his stay in Ibiza

Asked if the Fletcher debate was putting undue pressure on the strikers to produce the goods without him Miller said: “But we’ve not got him, I don’t think it does.

“The situation has to go away until Steven says he wants to play. I get asked this every single time and the answer is always the same: He doesn’t want to play.

“If somebody makes that decision we have to respect and stand by it. Bringing it up every five minutes is not going to make any difference.

“If he decides he wants to play, brilliant, but he doesn’t. He was on holiday this week, wasn’t he? I saw that in the papers.

“He’s the only one who can change his mind. If he wanted to pick the phone up then he would be welcomed back. But you don’t want to force somebody to do something they don’t want to. We have a good group of players and don’t want anything to ruin that.”

A return for Fletcher would put pressure on Miller but he has never shirked a challenge. If he was that type of guy he would have settled for an easier career.

He wouldn’t have joined Celtic after a spell with Rangers. And he certainly wouldn’t have gone back to Ibrox after wearing the Hoops.

Those moves saw him cursed by supporters from both sides but he didn’t let any of the abuse affect his performances for club or country. So when 47,000 Scotland fans start singing another man’s name, urging Levein to replace him with Jordan Rhodes, Miller isn’t the kind to crawl into a corner and start crying.

At 32, with 61 caps, there is very little that fazes him and the events on Saturday certainly didn’t.

Miller knows Rhodes is the new kid in town and reckons the £8m Blackburn Rovers striker could be the main man for years to come, but also retains enough faith in himself to be convinced that he is the man for the job against Macedonia tonight.

And if he isn’t, Miller won’t go all Steven Fletcher on us.

Given that Levein always chooses his captain to speak to the media on the day before a game it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out Miller’s appearance at the team’s HQ yesterday means he’ll get the nod against Macedonia tonight.

Miller said: “The manager will pick a team he feels will win the game.

“If he feels that means one up or two up, that will be the way he’ll play it. I think there are enough attacking options within the midfield and wider areas to compensate for one striker.”

Miller is also philosophical about the fact most fans seem to want to see Rhodes handed the job of shooting us to Brazil.

He added: “It’s the nature of the beast. Jordan’s the kiddie at the moment. He has come through. Before Saturday he’d scored 47 in 46 games.

“Listen, they’re excited to see him here. We’re excited to see him. He’s a young lad who we don’t want to put too much pressure on but we’re delighted to have someone who finds goals so easy to come by.

“At the stage where we’re needing a goal, the fans are going to want to see him.

“I’m sure we could play up front together, as could Ross McCormack, Jamie Mackie or any of the other forwards. But I don’t think the manager will let anybody influence his decision. He’s the man who’s going to have to stand by them.

“All the lads are right behind him. Whoever is picked will be ready.”

Taken from the Daily Record