Tuesday September 7 2010 and Craig Levein is an angry man.
The Scotland coach is angry that his side is struggling to turn around a 1-0 deficit against international whipping boys Liechtenstein.
He’s angry the team he selected are failing to follow the pre-match plan he created, which should have the Tartan Army cheering on from the Hampden stands.
But the real source of Levein’s anger and frustration is directed toward the front pairing of James McFadden and Kris Boyd. These two are underperforming, with inept showings in which their attitude and desire to get to stuck in can be most certainly questioned.
After 45 minutes Levein decides enough is enough and McFadden is told he will not be going out for the second half whilst Boyd is hauled off 20 minutes later.
Two and a half years later and both McFadden and Boyd have yet to make another appearance for the national side, as their careers have slid into obscurity.
And now in the last week, they have both opted for a return to their old stomping grounds, to where they started their careers full of promise and hope at Motherwell and Kilmarnock respectively.
It is sad to witness the decline in fortunes of McFadden and Boyd. In another world, they would still be playing at a higher level than the SPL and also be first choices in Gordon Strachan’s Scotland squads, but here they are, signing short term contracts as they attempt to kick-start their football careers.
Faddy was once the golden boy of the Scottish game. The ‘cheeky boy’ as Berti Vogts so memorably described him, who thanks to his natural creative ability at doing the unexpected saw him land the prize of SFA Young Player Of The Year. This led to a big money move to the glamour and the glitz of the Premiership, when he moved to Everton in 2003.
However, he was unable to land a regular game in Davie Moyes’ team, though successive Scotland managers continued to pick him and it was when wearing the Lion Rampant, McFadden scored the goal which he will probably forever be remembered, that 35 yard screamer to stun the French in the Parc De Princes.
Alex McLeish snapped him for Birmingham, before he returned for an ill-fated short spell back at Goodison Park.
A paltry three appearances followed at Sunderland and now Faddy is back in a claret and amber shirt at the Well.
Boyd has done his fair share of travelling too, since making his debut at Killie in 2001.
After notching 63 strikes for the Ayrshire team Boyd secured a transfer to his boyhood heroes Rangers in 2006. Here he went on to smash home an incredible 101 goals in only 163 appearances, overtaking Henrik Larsson as the all time highest goalscorer in the history of the SPL.
In 2010 the lad from Tarbolton made the decision to try his luck down South but spells at Middlesbrough and Nottingham Forest proved to be unsuccessful, so it was to Turkey and Eskishirspsor.
But like so many of his compatriots, Boyd failed to settle outside of his homeland, two appearances and no goals later it was off to the USA, for the once most feared striker in Scottish football and Portland Timbers, but this was to prove another unsuccessful stint and now he is back at Rugby Park.
It is one of the great mysteries of the Scottish game as to why McFadden and Boyd have failed to live up to their undoubted potential.
Injuries have not helped, but perhaps the brutal truth is that both these guys will need to face the harsh reality that they themselves have not worked hard enough and have made poor career choices.
Both aged 29, McFadden and Boyd should be in the prime of their footballing careers but for all the criticisms that Craig Levein faced, perhaps we should accept his judgement about this pair who let him down that cold night back in September 2010.
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