Fletcher Best Scottish Midfielder?

Our poll asking you who is currently the best Scottish central midfield player ended with Darren Fletcher of Manchester United scooping 50% of the votes.

I actually thought that the results would have been much closer than it was in the end, as for me there is no one player in this position that stands out significantly more than the others. Barry Ferguson was second with 20%, then Scott Brown (who perhaps isn’t really a central midfielder – not all the time anyway) came in with 14%, with Paul Hartley and Scott Severin sharing last place with 8% apiece.

I voted for Ferguson because I don’t think that we have anyone else who can retain possession as effectively as he can. I know that he has his critics, but I think for the most part he’s a pretty easy target i.e. captain of Rangers, ned-like appearance, etc. Bit similar to Paul McStay in that respect. The bottom line is, if you watch Ferguson live in the SPL he stands out a mile – everything goes through him in the Rangers engine room and I do think that when Scotland are playing top sides like Italy and France, he looks like the only guy in our team who’s not out of place in that company.

Having said that, Fletcher has been a very good player for Scotland. I’ve seen him live for United a few times and I always think he looks a bit out of his depth there – he’s usually a weak link in their team. But that doesn’t necessarily make him a poor player – just look at the company he’s in there for goodness sake – a side packed with top stars! And sadly for us, their team is blessed with a lot more talent that the Scotland national side.

So while stick by my own vote of Ferguson, I can see why people rate Fletcher very highly. It could well be that he’s the better player of the two, especially as he’s at least held his own in the Premiership, something that Ferguson was never able to achieve, albeit his spell at Blackburn was an injury-hit one.

Either way, it’s good to have two players of their standard in the Scottish midfield at the moment.