On Messrs McGregor, Ferguson and Boyd

There's very little that surprises us here at Inside Left Towers these days.

When we first heard SFA Chief Executive Gordon Smith blithely announce - only days after he sacked his national team manager - that those pariahs of the Scottish game, Allan McGregor, Barry Ferguson and Kris Boyd would be eligible for selection by any future Scotland manager, we shrugged our shoulders and moved on.

Like the SatNav system in my car, whose concept of what constitutes 50 metres is open to question (this questioning coming generally as I'm trying to find somewhere to turn, having missed the junction), Gordon Smith's concept of what constitutes 'lifetime' needs explanation.

We should be happy that Smith is the chief executive of a football association and not a High Court judge, as his idea of 'life' - as in 'lifetime ban' - seems somewhat vague, in this case extending only to the lifetime of the current manager, rather than the lifetime of the players he's so keen on banning.

Less than 7 months after 'Boozegate' and 'Vickygate', Gordon Smith has insinuated that McGregor, Ferguson and Boyd would be available for selection again, thus lifting the 'lifetime' ban handed down in April. Aside from the fact that a bureaucrat is trying to influence team selection, it also shows the shocking way in which Burley was betrayed by the men from Hampden. In what was obviously an exercise in 'appearing to the world to be doing something', we wonder what the SFA will spend their 40 pieces of silver on, and who gave it to them in the first place.

Opinion on the return of the Blackburn and Rangers players has been mixed. Some pundits, mainly those within the game, wouldn't mind seeing the trio back, while fan opinion seems to be divided on the issue. Mind you, football, by it's very nature a very tribalistic and polarising affair comes with a great deal of natural prejudice so I suppose it depends on which fans you ask, given all three are either serving or former Rangers players.

Nevertheless, we've got to look at the bigger picture.

When the draw for the European Championships is made in February next year, Scotland will find themselves in Pot Three, alongside the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, (two sides who out-performed Scotland in the World Cup qualifiers), Bulgaria and Norway, to name but a few. To qualify out of our group would take a herculean effort, requiring the best that Scotland can put out on the park.

Both McGregor and Ferguson suffered the wrath of the nation and their clubs, and both are important members of both the national squad as well as their own club sides. Boyd vowed he'd never play for Scotland while Burley was in charge; now that obstacle has been removed, the door to his return is left tantalisingly open.

There has been no indication that any of the three will even want to make a return. Ferguson's manager Alex McLeish has already warned the midfielder that he can't guarantee him a first team place if he returns to the national side, while Boyd has not commented on the issue. Only McGregor has expressed his joy at being thrown a lifeline.

For that matter, would they even get into the squad? Craig Gordon is out for three months with a broken arm, but with no more games on the cards until March next year, Gordon will presumably have recovered by then and McGregor will return to being second choice again. And despite his prolific scoring record, Boyd is not a regular first-team starter under Smith, who has doubted his strikers ability in the 'big games'. Ferguson is arguably the most likely of the three to get a first-team place alongside Fletcher, but it all depends on the new manager.

And that new manager, whoever he is and whenever he's appointed, faces a tough decision. Either Scotland embark on a long rebuilding process where we use the European Championships as preparation for the World Cup qualifiers in 2012, or we carry on and aim to qualify for everything going.

In the case of the former, leave the three out and concentrate on finding young talent to mount a serious campaign in 2 years time, beginning with a closer look at Billy Stark's U21 squad. Put Craig Levein in charge, and leave to cook.

In the case of the latter, recall Boyd, Ferguson and McGregor (and to hell with the media and the fans), send in Jim Jefferies and make the best of what you've got. In that context, after a prolonged episode in which no one has come out smelling of roses, we'd be happy to see the three return to the fold.

In the long term, Scotland should look forward, not back. In the short term however, we need all the help we can get, no matter how bitter the pill is to swallow.

Agree with us, or are we speaking rubbish? Two other Scottish football blogs have written on the subject: both the Scottish Football Blog and Scotzine are against any return for Ferguson, McGregor and Boyd. What do you think? Let us know!