Scots given a scornful send-off by Wenger

Scotland were given a huge vote of no confidence by Arsène Wenger yesterday as they flew to Iceland to try to salvage any hope of qualifying for Euro 2004. The Arsenal manager said that he had never signed a Scottish player simply because they were not good enough any more.

The Frenchman said he has considered the possibility of bringing Scots to Highbury in the past but they have always failed to live up to his high standards. Wenger believes the Scottish game is no longer producing top quality, home-grown talent.

He said: "He [the scout] has come back to us two or three times with interesting players and every time we have re-checked and gone into an investigation into the player. But each time we didn't pursue it. It always looked to me like they were not good enough, frankly.

"Today I look at the state of Scottish football. There are only two big teams, Celtic and Rangers, and they play with 80 per cent foreigners. To me that means there's nobody there able to play at the top level."

The subjects of Wenger's derision, meanwhile, were heading to Reykjavik with the Scotland manager, Berti Vogts ready, to put his faith in the Dunfermline striker Stevie Crawford.

The 28-year-old has been capped four times. He made his international debut in 1995, won a recall two years ago and so far Vogts has tried him just twice. But Crawford was one of the few success stories in the Faroe Islands last month when he came on at half-time and helped turn a 2-0 deficit into a 2-2 draw. Now he is set to start in Reykjavik having hit eight goals in 12 games for the Pars this season.

Vogts said: "Stevie Crawford has done so well. He has a lot of confidence. He scored a goal in a great training match yesterday. I am very hopeful for him – I hope he scores on Saturday."

In defence Vogts has been forced into changes. The Middlesbrough defender Robbie Stockdale is out with a foot injury. Christian Dailly continues despite the criticisms of him and David Weir attributed to Vogts after the Faroes match, which prompted the Everton man to withdraw from the national set-up.

Vogts has, however, received a double boost in midfield. Jackie McNamara is back in the Celtic starting line-up, which will ease his return to the national side, while Rangers' Barry Ferguson appears to have fully recovered from a hip injury.

Elsewhere, Gerry Taggert is an almost certain starter for Northern Ireland when they face Spain in Albacete tomorrow. The 31-year-old defender, who last played for his country 18 months ago, won a recall after Danny Griffin, Mark Williams and Peter Kennedy all pulled out of the squad through injury.