Celtic left-back Liam Scales has again been omitted from Stephen Kenny’s Ireland squad for tonight’s friendly against Qatar, and the ROI supporters have been left perplexed by it.
Scales has now been called up to the senior squad on two occasions. After making the bench against Serbia last month in a World Cup qualifier, it looked like being a morale-booster with future call-ups in the pipeline.
However, the new summer arrival was indeed given a call by Kenny for the October international camp yet hasn’t appeared in either squad. He first went on a 6,000+ mile-round trip to Azerbaijan in which he was snubbed. And now tonight, Scales hasn’t been given a spot in the squad for a meaningless friendly against the Qataris.
What’s disappointing about this is that the defender could’ve been spending invaluable time at Lennoxtown over the last week. Considering he’s been deemed not ready for Celtic, another two weeks working with the manager would’ve been the preferred option.
There’s an argument there that there’s valuable experience to be gained by going away with the senior Ireland squad. That much is true, but is it really what’s best for Scales right now?
Liam Scales will take plenty from it, but Ireland call-up feels like a waste
It’s promising that he’s in Kenny’s thoughts. Of course it is. He’s a manager that likes to push through young talent. Disappointing then that he hasn’t moved to give Scales an opportunity.
It’s not as if Ireland have blistering left-backs in their ranks either. They’re struggling for options in that area. Giving Scales a runout seemed like the right move. Instead, he’s left watching on from the stands.
His time on international will undoubtedly come. Kenny needs wins to build up his credibility and that could be why he’s snubbing the likes of Scales. But even so, it’s frustrating considering he could’ve been putting in some work back in Scotland.
For now, he’ll come back to Lennoxtown this week and restart his process of getting up to speed. It’s just a shame the last 10 days or so haven’t been as productive.
Below, we take a look at some of the reaction from Ireland fans to Scales’ snub:
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