Scotland assistant manager Terry Butcher is angry with the way George Burley is being treated by the press. "I'd have handled things a lot differently," said Butcher, a man who has resulted in many a dressing-room door being unhinged. "I would have grabbed a few people but, by law, I can't do that any more. I would certainly have been ringing a few people up and saying a few words down the phone to some, but that's me and George isn't like that.

"There has been a feeding frenzy, but the players and staff don't have any influence over that. For me, George deserves a lot of respect and probably hasn't been shown that for what he's done as a manager and for what he is as a person as well. He's dignified, he's courteous and there's a lot of steel about him, which not many people have seen at the moment, but I'm sure that'll come out eventually."

Butcher continued: "George has had much more success as a manager than me.

"There is a lot of steel behind George and what he does, and in his decisions, he's very strong. He's a man who knows where he wants to be and I respect that. International football is not about berating players - you've got to be a lot more clever than that."