McBurnie Scotland omission: No dickheads policy victim?

The Oli McBurnie Scotland squad omission raised some eyebrows. So far this season he has 18 goals & 8 assists to his name for an excellent club season, making it to at least the EFL Championship playoff final with Hull City. Steve Clarke though didn’t select him. Here we dig deeper on the McBurnie Scotland omission and ask, was that the right decision?

McBurnie Scotland arguments for

1. He has experience of playing in the ‘Top 5’ divisions, specifically 106 games in the EPL & 34 in La Liga
2. This season he has 18 goals and 8 assists for Hull City, taking them to the playoff final tomorrow at Wembley versus Middlesbrough
3. He has been rated the 4th best player in England’s 2nd tier this season
4. The 29-year-old has described himself as being more mature than he was in his younger years, with the maturity coming from being a dad. That was evidenced in 1 game when in a touchline stramash with players & coaches, McBurnie as one of the few keeping his head, was acting as peacemaker
5. He is hugely popular among fans at all clubs for whom he has played, for his committed & hard working on field performances. Not just in attack but he also helps out in defence, e.g., defending set pieces
6. He had the guts to step forward and score in the penalty shoot-out in Belgrade, when momentously Scotland broke a 20 year run of not qualifying for the finals of a major tournament
7. McBurnie has claimed, ‘I was always told I was Scottish … My heart is in it, my head is in it’. He backs that up with his record of having always shown up when fit, when selected at age group level and for the full squad. Including in the tougher times when Scotland weren’t qualifying for tournaments. He missed the covid-delayed Euro 2020 due to injury.
8. While he has never scored in his 16 Scotland games, subbing on & off means his minutes played only equate to 8 appearances of 90 mins
9. His last Scotland cap was over 5 years ago. His form for Scotland then is no barometer of how he would perform for Scotland currently

McBurnie Scotland arguments against

1. His unplayable early season form has tailed off somewhat in the 2nd part of the season. His 1 remaining club game this season, though, is a big one; the playoff final at Wembley
2. Some of his goals are penalties, meaning his 18 goal tally for the season is an exaggeration of his finishing abilities
3. He was caught on audio in conversation with John Fleck during their days together at Sheffield United, making a seemingly disrespectful comment about representing Scotland
4. His off field behaviour in the past has left much to be desired. He has previously attracted headlines for a drink-driving conviction, involvement in a street fight, stamping on a pitch-invading fan, and making a rude gesture at Cardiff City fans when he was among the Swansea City support
5. His full cap performances for Scotland were generally poor
6. Other forwards are available who are variously argued by different people as being at least as good and arguably better. Lyndon Dykes, George Hirst & Ross Stewart all made Clarke’s squad and are big physical forwards like McBurnie. Stewart & Hirst have ended the season with good runs of goals/assists per minute played. Form based arguments for Dykes are less compelling, although he still averaged a goal/assist every 215 mins he played in his 1/2 season just ended at Charlton Athletic. Hirst additionally is generally viewed as having done reasonably well in March for Scotland v Côte d’Ivoire. Kieron Bowie has been reported as on standby, after impressing with 4 goals in his last 9 Serie A games. Fraser Hornby is bigger in size than all of them, and did well in Germany until injury caused him to miss Darmstadt’s last 3 games of the season. Ché Adams & Lawrence Shankland have both made the squad and Robbie Ure is in a rich vein of striking form in Sweden. Oli Burke is one of the very quickest players in Europe, and enjoyed a decent end to the season playing in the lofty standards of the German top flight. Even 22 year old Barney Stewart was touted by some for his form for Falkirk. Young Stewart’s days though as a full Scotland cap, likely lie in the years ahead.
7. McBurnie went to the media, publicising a conversation he had from ringing Steve Clarke to ask what he had to do to get back into the Scotland squad

Dissection of some of those arguments

Disrespectful comment

In contrast to McBurnie’s remark to Fleck, are the comments of 2-time European Cup-lifting Nottingham Forest captain, John McGovern. Despite such stellar achievements, McGovern highlighted the importance of playing for Scotland, much more in tune with the feelings of Scotland fans:

“I would have walked up the M74 over broken glass to get one cap for Scotland. I just wish I’d have got one cap because that would have been the proudest moment of my life.”

Similarly, another European Cup winner (in its Champions League format), Andy Robertson, stated this week that being Scotland captain is his proudest achievement.

Europa League-winning captain, John McGinn, this week (in a documentary about the making of Andy Robertson), spoke yet again about the no-ego, squad harmony of the Scotland setup.

McBurnie claimed that the comment to Fleck was taken out of context. Clarke stated at the time that McBurnie explained the circumstances to others in the Scotland dressing room, and that the matter was resolved.

Poor previous Scotland performances

Separately, the argument based on McBurnie’s previous Scotland form seems weak. McBurnie himself has stated that he was trying too hard to impress in a Scotland jersey, meaning his decision making on the ball was poor. However, that is perhaps symptomatic of the hole McBurnie finds himself in with some fans. People form opinions based on emotions over rationality.

People claiming he shouldn’t be selected based on his previous Scotland performances (none of which are more recent than 5 years ago), seem like a thin veil over the likelier reason some prefer he is not selected. Specifically, some fans will never forgive him for what they perceive as having had the temerity to be disrespectful about their passion, the Scotland team. They also see that by extension as disrespectful to the Tartan Army. Given how much people see that as part of their self-identity, that’s a tough one for McBurnie to turn around unless he actually gets game time. Such fans determinedly refuse to even consider the possibility of what Clarke & other players accepted at the time; that the comment was taken out of context.

McBurnie smashing goals in every time he played for Scotland would likely defuse that animosity. His issue though is he now seems in a situation in which he seems to have negligible chance of being selected.

The All Blacks No Dickheads Policy

The All Blacks No Dickheads Policy (NDP), came to prominence in 2014. For those unfamiliar with the NDP, there’s a pretty good description here. To pick out some comments separately made by All Blacks former mental skills coach, Gilbert Enoka:

You can’t “be a positive person on the field and a prick off it”

“A dickhead makes everything about them”

“They are people who put themselves ahead of the team, people who think they’re entitled to things, expect the rules to be different for them, people operating deceitfully in the dark, or being unnecessarily loud about their work.”

“Often teams put up with it because a player has so much talent. We look for early warning signs and wean the big egos out pretty quickly. Our motto is, if you can’t change the people, change the people.“

“The management might not spot these counterproductive behaviours. The players and leaders themselves should call others out for their inflated egos.“

“Our coach Steve Hansen, a brilliant man, once came into a team meeting a few minutes late.“

“As he walked in, one of the senior players stood up and said, ‘Coach, you can’t be late. Not again, please.’ So it’s actually the team monitoring this behaviour.”

“You can have all the strategies in the world, but in the end, what will enable you to overachieve – or underachieve – is your culture.”

Steve Clarke & Oli McBurnie comments

Steve Clarke name checked McBurnie in the press conference following his Scotland World Cup squad announcement. He specifically stated of the phone call with McBurnie:

“I thought that was a private conversation, to be honest. He (McBurnie) should not have gone to the media. It’s just the way I work, I tend to stick to players I’ve had before. I trust them. They know what I expect from them and that’s it. It’s a natural selection process – natural in my head, anyway – but maybe not in everybody else’s.”

That phone conversation was spotlighted when this website profiled McBurnie a month ago. We specifically commented:

McBurnie was in that phone call with Clarke and knows Clarke as a personality. We can only presume McBurnie has read the situation well enough, so that he hasn’t disclosed what could potentially have been seen by the naturally introverted Clarke as a private conversation. If McBurnie has read that incorrectly, he has taken a risk by going public. All the more so given how squad harmony has been the central tenet of Clarke’s reign as Scotland boss.

That description at the time was using cautious phrasing. Now that nature has taken its course, it’s more appropriate to ask: McBurnie, what did you genuinely expect to achieve by going to the press?

Clarke then re-emphasised the importance of personalities in squad harmony, when commenting on the recall after a 4 year absence, of Ross Stewart:

“He was good in the squad.”

“You know I put a lot of importance on characters and people within the group.”

“When you go away, you’re going to be away hopefully for four or five weeks, you need good relationships between all the players. It’s very important that we have that.”

We can only speculate why McBurnie at the time didn’t treat that phone call as a private conversation. In the ‘Big 5 personality traits‘, is McBurnie so far on the extrovert side of the introvert-extrovert scale, that he has to externally communicate every thought that flashes through his mind? Or as seems the case below, McBurnie still has challenges with emotional intelligence, negatively impacting his decision making?

McBurnie was reported on 4 May after the Hull City versus Norwich City game, that after a motivational meeting with 2 fellow players the day before, of describing how fired up he was:

“You guys don’t see that, but the leadership they showed in the meeting we had… I wanted to headbutt a wall when I walked out of that meeting. I was raging I had to wait 24 hours to play the game after that meeting.”

“Headbutt a wall”? “Raging”? Are those genuinely words of wisdom for someone seeking to re-brand themselves as mature and seeking to dispel a reputation of being a loose cannon? Decide for yourself.

Is there an NDP for the Scotland squad?

Officially? Perhaps not. In reality, yes, even if not by that name and with his own variation. Clarke is granite solidly consistent in highlighting squad harmony importance. Numerous players have repeatedly stated how much they enjoy & look forward to Scotland camps. Lyndon Dykes once even stated he wanted to travel to games overseas in which injury meant he had zero chance of playing. Scotland squad player call offs are now rare. Of course though, replacement of many relatively unimportant friendlies with much higher importance Nations League games is also a factor in increased player attendance.

Personality-wise, Steve Clarke is unlikely to be mistaken for Billy Connolly or Kevin Bridges. On the extrovert/introvert scale, Clarke is very much on the introvert side. Unlike extroverts who ‘speak to think’, introverts such as Clarke ‘think to speak’. Clarke likes things quiet & fuss free. Any prospect of a player hanging dirty linen out in the press will be a red flag to Clarke. There is though Gilbert Enoka’s point that the NDP is actually implemented by the players. Could it have been players who vetoed McBurnie’s recall?

As Kenny McLean stated in November when Harvey Barnes was being touted as a possible for Scotland:

“If you can add quality that’s going to make us more successful, then I don’t think anybody is going to stand in the way. When we talk about these things, the manager obviously looks at characters, looks at personalities as well and how they fit in. Listen, he’s playing in the Premier League week in, week out. Of course he’s going to add quality to us. I think the players will need to sit him down and see what he’s like as a lad as well. I don’t know if the manager will let us do that.”

Does Oli McBurnie pass the All Blacks NDP test?

Obviously not in Steve Clarke’s mind. Assessing McBurnie against the criteria mentioned in Enoka’s comments:

1. You can’t “be a positive person on the field and a prick off it” – Even if he has matured, McBurnie has baggage on this point
2. “A dickhead makes everything about them” – McBurnie doesn’t make everything about himself, given what a hard working, team player he is on the pitch. His public comments about World Cup squad player selection, though, have all been centred on him. Imagine if every player conducted themselves via the media the way McBurnie has? As Clarke has since made clear himself, he considered that phone call a private conversation. Such a private person as Steve Clarke was always likely to disapprove of that conversation being made public
3. “They are people who put themselves ahead of the team, people who think they’re entitled to things, expect the rules to be different for them, people operating deceitfully in the dark, or being unnecessarily loud about their work.” – The word loud was highlighted for context in this article. As per previous point, McBurnie would’ve been wiser keeping that phone call to himself. “Headbutt a wall” & “raging” comments won’t have helped.

Is Steve Clarke right with the Oli McBurnie Scotland World Cup squad omission?

The answer is very subjective. Oli McBurnie is a hard working, dangerous forward at his peak with much to offer as a footballer. It is a pity that in McBurnie’s ill-considered actions leading up to this World Cup, Steve Clarke feels McBurnie hasn’t what it takes to enhance rather than damage squad harmony. The McBurnie Scotland squad omission was self-inflicted, by McBurnie publicising that phone call with Clarke. Maybe McBurnie should invest in a copy of Daniel Goleman’s bestseller? Clarke sees too much risk selecting him.