SCOT GEMMILL has insisted he didn't plead with caretaker Scotland boss Malky Mackay to leave him with his best players for their Euro 2019 double-header next week and insists he would have been thrilled if they had been called up for the full squad.
Mackay declared he could have easily promoted a few of Gemmill's squad for his bow as interim manager at Pittodrie next week against Holland. But he decided against upgrading them into the A squad and allowed Gemmill to pick his best players for the two qualifiers with Latvia and Ukraine in Perth instead.
The young Scots are in a decent position after wins against the Dutch and a victory in Latvia, with a loss to England in between. Gemmill is delighted Mackay allowed him to pick his best players, although he will have to do without his captain and most expensive Scot of all time, Oliver Burke, with West Brom monitoring his hamstring strain.
Gemmill said: "Malky is the boss. If Malky wanted any of the players he would have them. It was his decision. He had to pick a squad to play against Holland and he's done that.
“If he decided to take any of my players, I wouldn't have been able to stop him. It's as simple as that. But I wouldn't try and stop him. Everyone speaks about winning or developing but of course I wouldn't stop him from picking them.
“I wouldn't have opened my mouth because I'd have been delighted that the players were getting the chance to play for Scotland. Who am I to stop that? That's the reason for having an Under-21 team. I promise you, I don't think about how it might affect me. It's not about me, it's about the team and the players.
“That's not me being humble, I just don't feel like that."
So what's more important to Gemmill – the chance of an extremely rare successful qualifying campaign or progression for his players to established Scotland full internationals.
"Would I rather qualify or see half of these boys go on to play for Scotland," he pondered. "Why can't we have both? It's all about the full squad, there's no question about that. Hopefully we can get a balance where, game by game, we can try to progress.
“That's how I saw the 10 fixtures at the start of the campaign. There are challenges to them all. When we come to play Andorra, there will be an expectancy to win – but England struggled to beat them 1-0. That's the reality. So far, we did find a way to beat Holland and it was the same away in Latvia. They did not find a way to get past England. That's the way it is.
"We’re looking forward to two really important home games and having a push to make sure performance levels are strong."
Scotland Under-21 squad
Doohan (Celtic), Fulton (Hamilton Accies), Robby McCrorie (Rangers), Ruddy (Wolves);
Kerr (St Johnstone), Ross McCrorie (Rangers), McKenna (Aberdeen), Miller (Celtic), Smith (Hearts), Souttar (Hearts), Taylor (Kilmarnock), Williamson (Dunfermline);
Archibald (Brentford), Cadden (Motherwell), Campbell (Motherwell), Docherty (Hamilton Accies), Magennis (St. Mirren), Mallan (Barnsley), Morgan (St Mirren), Thomas (Kilmarnock);
Hardie (Rangers), McBurnie (Swansea City), Wright (Aberdeen).
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