Davie Provan has slammed the Scottish Football Association for failing to release Rangers starlet Zak Rudden from age-group duty to play for loan club Falkirk at the weekend.
The Sky Sports pundit and ex-Celtic midfielder is convinced the Ibrox forward, who is on a season-long loan with the Scottish Championship club, should not have been made to play for the nation’s Under-19s.
“Rudden should have been playing in their relegation crunch with Partick,” Provan told the Scottish Sun. “Instead, the Bairns did without him after the SFA refused to release him from the Scotland Under-19 squad facing San Marino.
“Who in their right mind at Hampden made that decision? Given the Bairns’ precarious league position and the potential financial hit from relegation, Rudden should have been playing for the people paying his wages.
“Is it any wonder there is so little goodwill towards the SFA?”
OPINION
Provan is spot on. Why on earth would anyone high up in the Scottish FA believe an 18-year-old forward is better off playing in the most low key and undemanding age-group national match possible than a pivotal second-tier league fixture. Rudden has benefited enormously from playing regularly for the Championship outfit this season, scoring five goals from 10 matches, four of which have come from nine league encounters. Standing at 6ft 2in (source: Transfermarkt), the rising star has put his frame and presence to good effect, and showed he has the potential to not only thrive in the lower leagues, but also possibly return to Rangers and do the business there. Aged 18, he has immense potential and has already out-grown Scotland Under-19s football, a level at which he has already earned six caps. The teenager would be best served at Falkirk. Poor move once again from the Scottish FA, whose propensity for PR own goals is limitless.