The Daily Record says it has been banned from attending a press conference ahead of tonight’s football friendly between Scotland and Australia after upsetting Scotland manager Craig Levein.
Sports writer James Traynor reports today that Levein ‘yesterday cracked up at the country’s national paper’by banning reporters Keith Jackson and Craig Swan from coming into his press conference.
And a source at the Scottish Football Association allegedly told the paper that if it reported the ban it ‘risked being excluded from covering the Easter Road match”.
‘You’d have thought our national team boss would have been busy scanning film and stats of the Aussies and our opponents in the World Cup qualifiers with a forensic intensity,’said Traynor.
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‘But no, it seems he prefers to study the papers, especially the Daily Record.”
He added: ‘With the qualifiers about to begin it was time, he might have reckoned, for a declaration: Don’t pick through my selections, tactics and methods, or else.
‘If that was the plan seven out of 10 for a decent effort which might have had some paper boys shrinking back in fear. But all Levein succeeded in doing as he tried to put his foot down was put his size nine right in it.”
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Traynor said Levein took issue with a headline in yesterday’s record reporting on the decision to call up Rangers midfielder Ian Black.
‘Our men were shut out because we reported that, having ignored Rangers players last week when he selected his squad, he then called up Ian Black after a clutch of withdrawals,’wrote Traynor.
He added: ‘Fine, Black is a decent back-up man and probably an obvious choice as the casualty list lengthened. Nothing wrong with that and although we reported the story correctly the manager decided he didn’t like part of a headline and created a drama where there wasn’t one.
‘Levein had said it would be difficult for him to pick players from the fourth tier of Scottish football and our story merely reminded everyone of that.”
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