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This report on McLeish should worry Celtic supporters

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With Celtic players playing such an integral role in Alex McLeish’s Scotland side, you can’t help but keep an eye on the progress of the national side, whether you are an active supporter of the Tartan Army or not.

Players like Callum McGregor, James Forrest, Kieran Tierney and Ryan Christie have all proven recently that they’ll be integral to any success McLeish’s outfit have over the next 12 months.

With others like Leigh Griffiths also selected when fit, there is a distinct Hoops feel to the current team.

Perhaps then we should take notice of the latest worrying report about McLeish’s handling of his first-team squad.

Keith Jackson of The Daily Record shared a very intriguing bit of gossip about Robert Snodgrass’ status in the squad, spinning a yarn about strange painkilling injections and late-night training sessions.

Writing on Monday, Jackson reported:

Rumours abound that Snodgrass was treated shabbily after joining up with the squad for the last double header against Israel and Portugal.

There’s a suggestion the West Ham man was encouraged to take a painkilling injection in order to declare himself fit for the hammering in Haifa – then left to watch it from a seat in the stand, not even listed among McLeish’s substitutes.

That Snodgrass subsequently withdrew from that squad before asking not to be selected this time adds substance to that theory. It also adds another layer of chaos to a very confused Scotland picture.

That ill-fated trip to Israel was also horribly put together. A five and a half hour flight the day before the game and a training session at half past 10 at night, less than 24 hours before kick-off?

Clearly international coaches shouldn’t be dishing out injections to players for matches that have little bearing on anything apart from a slightly better chance of tournament qualification.

That’s the kind of scenario that can trigger a more serious fitness problem if not managed correctly and away from a player’s club doctors.

Late night training sessions aren’t ideal anyway, with fatigue obviously a contributing factor in picking up niggling injuries.

Frankly I’d hope that Celtic got to the bottom of such a matter, with so many of our star players regularly turning out for Scotland.

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