To Distraction, Driver!

When the "will he, won't he" debate about Andrew Driver's international future began, I think it was sometime back in 1901, there seemed to be a number of possible conclusions to the saga.

The outcome that was least discussed, although it was the one we should have prepared for all along, was that the SFA hadn't actually done their homework.

And so it came to pass that Andrew Driver's Scotland career was the shortest in international history, lasting all of 24 hours and the heady total of zero caps.

Not eligible, you see, never has been. In all the wooing and flirting, as Gordon Smith got hot under the collar talking about a young man trapped between two lovers, as his decision to become a Jock was breathlessly announced, in all of this someone had forgotten to check if he was actually qualified to play for us.

Turns out he hadn't completed the full period of education that is required under the new rules.

Oops-a-daisy

Beneath the tan I think you could say that Gordon Smith has got a bit of a beamer.

I've felt all along that the Driver scenario - and the player's refusal to commit - was making a mockery of a rule that should have been a positive attempt to reflect modern Scotland.

But to find out the whole debate has been based on a false premise? Another moment of mindblowing SFA genius.

For his part Driver had this to say:

I feel embarrassed to have nailed my colours to the mast of Scotland, only for this to happen.

I feel the SFA should have investigated everything before asking me to commit. I'm a bit annoyed and disappointed this has all come out so late.

Hmm. Embarrassed, annoyed and disappointed by the SFA. We know the feeling, mate.