Why wont fletcher play for scotland

The race for World Cup places: what every country needs in Europe. Spain's World Cup spot is almost booked Harry Kane's England hat-trick a timely reminder of what the striker can do. Arsenal's Cedric ready to fight for his place at the club he always wanted to join. Uruguay left to rue missed chances, Argentina edge closer to World Cup. Kane to Man City? Conte faces fight to keep Spurs striker. Michael Higdon scored two, giving him six for the season and five in two games to top the league's rank.

He is one of 11 first-team squad members whose contract will expire in the summer. It would be staggering if Motherwell retain any of them, such was the excellence of the recruitment job they did in putting together the team that finished third last season and has started so strongly this time around.

Darren Randolph was signed at the end of his contract at Charlton Athletic. The goalkeeper had become a regular starter there and the English club were entitled to compensation for a domestic transfer. Motherwell exploited a loophole to get him for free and since then he has become one of the most reliable 'keepers in the division and earned his first full cap for Republic of Ireland this season.

Tom Hateley was released by Reading but has developed into a versatile player with one of the best dead-ball deliveries in the SPL. Chris Humphrey and Higdon are having their best seasons for Motherwell as their contracts near expiry while Jamie Murphy, at 23, can now be considered a sure thing in the SPL after appearances and has the pace, skill and range of finishing to attract clubs in a better league.

In all cases, these players' current worth far exceeds that when they played their first game for Motherwell. With no transfer fee due, that value will be represented in contract negotiations that will almost certainly exclude their current club. Already their manager, Stuart McCall, is talking about the importance of retaining them until the end of the season, instead of accepting a vastly reduced fee in January.

It looks like this season will be the last for this Motherwell team. It could still have a very happy ending. Even when they were both in the top division, it was rare for both Old Firm clubs to fail to win on the same day. Now that Celtic are left as the only SPL superpower, with a budget dwarfing all opponents, and Rangers enjoy a mind-bending financial advantage over their part-time rivals in the Third Division, it shouldn't happen at all.

Yet that was the case last Saturday, as Celtic lost at St Johnstone and Rangers drew their third successive away match in the bottom tier of Scottish football. Featured Teams. Home Odds.

Bayern Munich Dortmund. Celtic Rangers. Toggle navigation Subscribe. Laurie Whitwell Nov 6, These days Rio Ferdinand is best known for being a polished pundit on BT Sport, someone who occasionally, and unapologetically, gives way to emotional outbursts on camera but primarily delivers detailed insight into football at the highest level.

The raw confidence that drove him from a council estate in Peckham, south London, to the peak of the game remains, however. Take, for instance, his answer to the prospect of entering boardrooms as a club executive at some point. In Ferdinand met with Ed Woodward over the technical director role at Manchester United , and though nothing came of the talks it is easy to see what the year-old could offer in that capacity.

But Ferdinand has achieved all he has through a formidable mentality and is clearly enjoying himself, so why stop now? Quiet modesty is not his style. That came after he was left on the bench for Scotland's previous qualifying match. Last October Levein said Fletcher would have to make the first move if he ever wanted to get back in the squad. Then in May of this year he said he was closing the door on the ex-Wolves hit-man because he'd waited too long for him to make a decision.

On Sunday Fletcher, who's scored once in eight games for Scotland, said on Twitter he would be willing to return if asked. But BBC Scotland has learned that Levein will ignore those comments because Fletcher was given opportunities to make himself available in the past but refused to do so.