Football: George Burley the optimist chooses to see half-empty stadium as half-full
divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/36612?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Burley+the+optimist+chooses+to+see+half-empty+stadium+as+half-fullch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Scotland+football+team%2CArgentina+football+team%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Ewan+Murrayc7=2008_11_19c8=1120030c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Scotlandc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FScotland” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpGeorge Burley last night issued a firm defence of Scotland’s football-supporting public despite little over half the tickets for tonight’s visit of Argentina being sold, a potential source of embarrassment for the country’s football association./ppDiego Maradona’s debut as the Argentina national coach has failed fully to capture the imagination of Scottish fans and as of yesterday only 28,000 tickets had been sold for the friendly at the 52,000-capacity Hampden Park. By kick-off, the Scottish FA hopes that figure will have risen to 35,000. Anything less and, given Argentina’s pound;800,000 appearance fee, the host association is virtually certain not to break even on the glamour fixture./ppAn SFA spokesman said it would be “delighted” if 35,000 attend, even if such a crowd would seem disproportionate to worldwide media interest in Argentina and Maradona’s arrival on these shores. A bullish marketing campaign, particularly after Maradona’s appointment last month, appears to have done little to entice potential paying customers./ppYet Burley is upbeat. “People have got to be realistic,” he said. “It is a midweek game and in the present climate it costs a lot of money. If it was a Saturday, it would be easier for people to bring their families. If we are talking about 35,000, that is a terrific crowd for a midweek game. To get 35,000 in this climate and in this day and age would be very good.”/ppBurley also dismissed any notion that naming his starting XI a day early might boost the attendance figure and declined an opportunity to do so. “I don’t see the benefit in that,” he said./ppAdult ticket prices have ranged from pound;25-pound;35 for the game, with family - one adult and one child - packages available for pound;28. The SFA spokesman added that the “atmosphere and occasion” was more significant than making a financial loss. But, given that the SFA chief executive, Gordon Smith, has stated a near-capacity crowd would encourage him in trying to bring Brazil to Glasgow, the Tartan Army are now unlikely to catch sight of Dunga and his squad in the near future./ppOn the field Burley believes the simple tactic to ensure Scotland avoid defeat to the team currently ranked sixth in the world relates to his players’ level of effort. “The only way we are going to compete against teams like Argentina is by working harder than them,” said the manager. “Working harder is the challenge. We may not be able to compete with their individual talents, with which they have been brought up, but we can work harder as a team. As a manager, you concentrate on your own team, not the opposition, no matter who you are playing. It is just more important you get it right when you face the top sides.”/ppBarry Ferguson will feature for the first time since Burley was appointed in January after a series of injury problems. Though Ferguson’s Rangers team-mates, Lee McCulloch and Kris Boyd, have recently retired from international duty but Burley has never had any doubts about the Scotland captain’s continued willingness to represent his country./pp”Barry has been desperate to get out there, he is desperate to play,” said Burley, who is likely to spare the midfielder 90 minutes of action. “His enthusiasm to play for his country has never waned.” Another Rangers player, Allan McGregor, will start in goal with Craig Gordon injured./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/scotland”Scotland/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/argentina”Argentina/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414974111900270935413″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414974111900270935413″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a
Original post by Ewan Murray
Tags: 3a, Appearance Fee, Embarrassment, Ewan, Football Association, Football Team, Football World Cup, George Burley, Glamour, Hampden Park, Host Association, Maradona, Marketing Campaign, Media Interest, National Coach, Optimist, Scotland Football, Scottish Fa, Scottish Fans, Worldwide Media