Iwelumo and the rest
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |  |  |  |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 2 | +15 | 24 | — | 2–0 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 2–0 | |
| Norway | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 7 | +2 | 10[a] | 0–1 | — | 4–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | |
| Scotland | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 11 | −5 | 10[a] | 0–1 | 0–0 | — | 2–0 | 2–1 | |
| Macedonia | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 11 | −6 | 7 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | — | 2–0 | |
| Iceland | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 13 | −6 | 5 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | — |
This was back in the day when the fixtures were agreed at a meeting between the teams, so whoever decided we should start by playing in Macedonia in early September, where it was still so hot that our players melted, has a lot to answer for. That loss put us on the backfoot immediately, though a Kirk Broadfoot-inspired (no, this is not a joke) win in Iceland partly compensated for that.
Then, the Iwelumo miss.
Look at the table. Had Scotland beaten Norway, they'd have finished second and made the playoffs. And that's despite Lee McCulloch and Kris Boyd taking the huff, then Allan McGregor and Barry Ferguson's V-signs from the bench during the Iceland home game - the duo had been demoted after going boozing following a humping by Holland a few days earlier.
Nothing seemed to go right for Burley. Gary Caldwell was harshly shown two first half yellow cards in Norway and we conceded four with ten men. Kenny Miller missed chance after chance in the final game at home to the Dutch and we ended up losing a game we should have won.
But despite all the inadequacies and all the rotten luck it was appalling that we didn't get a playoff out of it. Burley got a vote of confidence from the SFA a few days after the Holland match and then his jotters two months later after we were thumped by Wales in a friendly. All we needed was a half-decent manager and we'd be fine...
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