Gordon Strachan: Scotland fans will boo James McCarthy and Aiden McGeady more because they’re good players

If I was James McCarthy or Aiden McGeady and I heard or read Gordan Strachan’s comments I would take them as a compliment…I think.

In Tuesday’s press conference when announcing his squad to face England and Republic of Ireland next week, Strachan said that it is okay for the Tartan Army to boo McCarthy and McGeady because it is based on their ability.

The Daily Mail quoted Strachan as saying, "Do you know why they’ll get booed? It is because they are good players. If they were useless, they would not boo them."

Both McGeady and McCarthy elected to represent ROI despite being born in Scotland through the nationality of their grandparents. McCarthy at Hamilton and McGeady at Celtic have already received abuse earlier in their careers because their choses.

Strachan said, "Are you going to ask them to pay 60 quid and then tell them they can’t say something?

As long as you don’t have that nastiness about it, then that is fine. But we have all been booed. I used to come here (to Parkhead) regularly and get booed. It didn’t bother me. And that was when I was the manager.

It is part of football. It is like pantomime stuff. As long as it is pantomime humour, then we don’t mind that. If it goes beyond that, then that’s not fine."

The Scotland boss was one of Aiden McGeady’s former managers at Celtic and the winger has said that boos from Scottish fans annoyed him in the past but Strachan doesn’t think it will affect him this time around.

"Absolutely not," he said. "It will not bother him. He is a terrific player, so it will not bother him, and it will not bother James McCarthy.

As long as you keep it to the boos and leave it like that, so it is pantomime booing, that is what I like. That is good fun. They are getting booed because they are terrific players."

So for Strachan the likely abuse that McCarthy and McGeady will receive should be taken in jest because the real reason behind the booing is the players’ ability and now not because of their choice in the nation they represent. What do you think on the matter?