Willie Miller reckons the negatives of Scottish teams playing friendly matches abroad always outweigh the positives, and recalled his own experiences at Aberdeen where non-competitive fixtures have gone badly.
The Aberdeen legend was speaking in the aftermath of the abandoned friendly between Almeria and Hearts in Spain on Sunday, which was called off before the first half had even ended. In a heated affair, Jambos defender Alex Cochrane and Almeria's Rodrigo Ely got involved in an on-field bust up, with resulted in red cards for both players. The referee quickly lost control of proceedings, and around 60 people from both teams charged onto the pitch to start a massive brawl.
And Miller argues that there is always a risk for games to go 'over the top' when Scottish clubs take on European sides in friendlies on the continent. Miller also feels the level of officiating of such games also can result in the match becoming unsavoury. Speaking in his column for The Press and Journa l, Dons icon Miller said: "In my experience as a player, then a manager and director, I always think the risks involved in these friendly games can outweigh the benefits if you aren't careful.
"These training trips are primarily about getting or keeping players fit for the domestic action returning. If you take a friendly game and it descends into a bad-tempered grudge match, it can be counter-productive - risking injuries and any attempt to work on patterns of play or similar falling by the wayside.
"The biggest problem I always felt with these games on trips abroad was always around the officiating. Invariably - whether it was Spain, Germany or Scandanvia, you would always end up with a low-level, local referee, and they can lose control of things. If they's don't stamp out early tackles which should be punished, for example, the resentment on both sides starts to grow."
Miller then called on some of his own similar experiences, firstly when he was manager of Aberdeen when his side jetted off to Europe to take on lower level opposition. He added: "When I took my Aberdeen team to Germany in the summer of 1993, we played a particularly fractious game against minnows Rot-Weiss Oberhaussen. Although we won 3-2 via goals from Mixu Paatelainen and Duncan Shearer, the local referee fell for the theatrics of the German side throughout, leading to constant stoppages and a mountain of yellow cards.
"Although this didn't appear to be an issue on Sunday in the Hearts game, another problem you can face is the local fans. In the Oberhaussen game, fans were thrown out for chucking beer over our dugout.
The Scotland legend who won 65 caps for his country and appeared in two World Cups, also cited another example from when he travelled with the Dons squad to Africa in 2007. He said: "Another interesting friendly environment which stands out came when I was director of football at Aberdeen and we went to Egypt in pre-season with Jimmy Calderwood in 2007. We played against one of the local sides, Al-Ittihad, and we were beating them 2-1 in another ill-tempered friendly match where the referee lost control amid the Egyptian side's aggressive behaviour - with two Dons players unjustly sent off in addition to the two home players who were dismissed.
"With 20 minutes to go, about 20 riot police suddenly appeared and marched down to the dugouts with face guards, body armour and shields in case the home fans attacked their manager when the full-time whistle went. Although it was a moment where the Aberdeen staff and players were not really the ones in danger, it still wasn't ideal for a friendly where you're only looking to get your players minutes and tune up your play ahead of getting back to domestic action."
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