Thursday 9 November 2017 09:22, UK
Malky Mackay has denied claims he only picked Aberdeen players for Scotland’s Pittodrie friendly against the Netherlands to sell tickets and said two Dons players will start the match.
Former Scotland striker Kris Boyd this week accused Mackay of selecting Graeme Shinnie, Ryan Christie and Kenny McLean in order to boost the crowd in the Granite City but Scotland caretaker manager Mackay rejected that suggestion.
Mackay, who has eight uncapped players in his 22-man squad, insisted his only concerns were to pick a team to win the game on Thursday, live on Sky Sports, and to help preparations for the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign.
He said: "When I announced the squad a week to 10 days ago there was a lot of upbeat attention to it in terms of a freshness. I suppose everyone is going to have an opinion about the squad.
"What I would say is that anyone that knows me, knows that when I pick a team, I pick a team to win a game.
"I'm humbled and honoured and proud to be leading the team and making sure that team go out on the pitch and beat Holland. Make no mistake about that, there is no one that I would bring to this squad purely to fill a jersey.
"We are here in Aberdeen, people talked about the Aberdonians in there to sell tickets. Two of the three of them are going to start the game. Am I going to pick players to sell tickets that are going to start the game? I'm not sure about that.
"I've got a real hungry group and every one of them are playing at a very good level."
McLean already has one cap while Shinnie was previously called up by Gordon Strachan, and 22-year-old Christie was a Scotland U21 regular for several years.
Mackay said: "Derek McInnes has had the Aberdeen team for the past few years as the second-best team in the country to Celtic and the three that I picked have been outstanding for him on a regular basis.
"They are all young, they are definitely all hungry, and all of them are talented. It's why they are in the squad and it's why two or three are going to play. Not to sell tickets."
Mackay also again declined the chance to rule himself out of the running for the manager's job on a permanent basis, although he claimed his previous comments about the job being difficult to turn down had been misinterpreted.
The Scottish Football Association performance director said: "I've got a job. I was given a job 10 months ago and it's disrespectful of me to talk about another job. It's not even in the offing."
