FORMER Scotland striker Kris Boyd has launched a fierce criticism of Malky Mackay’s Scotland squad selection, labelling it 'a laughing stock'.
A number of new faces were called into the national team for this week’s friendly against the Netherlands at Pittodrie, the first international match since Gordon Strachan departed in the wake of a failed World Cup qualifying campaign.
Rangers midfielder Ryan Jack, Aberdeen’s Graeme Shinnie, Hibernian defender Paul Hanlon and Jason Cummings of Nottingham Forest are among eight players in line for their first Scotland cap in Aberdeen.
But the 34-year-old Kilmarnock captain, speaking to BBC Scotland, insisted that the new players have been chosen for the wrong reasons.
“It’s a laughing stock for international football,” he said.
“Ryan Jack is possibly going to start at right-back for Scotland – that was in the media a couple of days ago.
“He's had more red cards than good games for Rangers this season. Why does he even deserve to be there?”
He continued: "We've got [Hibernian’s] Paul Hanlon and John McGinn in the squad and had this game been at Easter Road, we might have seen [Hibs pair] Dylan McGeouch and Simon Murray called up too.
"It's for the SFA and Malky to appease the fans and media who didn't like Gordon and then there's the key thing - to sell tickets. That's why they're all in the squad. It's gone back to the days of Berti Vogts, giving players caps for nothing."
Versatile Aberdeen skipper Graeme Shinnie’s selection was came in for particular criticism from Boyd, who believes the 26-year-old is not cut out for international football.
"Not good enough," he said. "He's not going to play at left-back because even Barry Douglas, who's at the top of the Championship [with Wolves] can't get in.
"He doesn't even play at left-back for Aberdeen and Scotland's best two players are left-backs [Kieran Tierney and Andrew Robertson].
"As for central midfield, I watched [Celtic’s] Scott Brown, Stuart Armstrong and Callum McGregor run all over the top of him last week."
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