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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
David Irvine

Van Bronckhorst wades into Celtic-Scotland saga as Rangers release duo for friendly

GIOVANNI van Bronckhorst has had his say on the ongoing international call-up saga with Celtic not releasing players for friendlies in the World Cup break.

The Rangers boss was quizzed on allowing Ryan Jack and Robby McCrorie to leave for Scotland duty with clubs not obliged to release players for action.

Ange Postecoglou confirmed Celtic would not allow players to leave for the friendly against Turkey - with Steve Clarke "disappointed" by the decision.

The World Cup break is not an official FIFA international window for friendlies with it left up to clubs whether to let players leave or not.

Celtic decided against letting players leave on international duty due to their trip to Australia to take part in the Sydney Super Cup.

Probed on his thoughts on allowing players to leave on international duty with reference to Celtic's stance, Van Bronckhorst said: "They have a trip to go and need their players, that’s normal.

"Every club team makes a decision, for me it’s the same.

"We have players who have played so many games but some players might need minutes to be fresher.

"Ryan Jack is one of them. He will be involved in the squad tomorrow but he’s been out for a couple of weeks. He’s one of the players it would be more beneficial for."

On Celtic's decision not to release players for friendlies during the World Cup break, Clarke yesterday said: “The base-line is that it’s not an official international window.

“I don’t know why because there’s a World Cup window going on. That sounds pretty official to me.

“The clubs don’t have to release their players and Celtic have chosen not to release their players for this game.

"I’m disappointed with that decision but we have to take it on the chin.”

Postecoglou said: “The international games coming up in this break are not sort of compulsory for us to release players.

“From our perspective, the Australian trip is an important part of our football club and we want to take our strongest possible team there. 

“We will always be supportive of the national team and Steve Clarke has always been great with us in terms of his relationship with the club. 

“But all of our players who won’t be going to the World Cup will be coming with us."

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