Dalglish bemused by snub for Burns

Kenny Dalglish once made a fortune out of British Telecom by appearing in their television adverts declaring: "It's good to talk." Scotland's most capped footballer believes that the Scottish Football Association should be charged with negligence after failing to pick up the phone to Tommy Burns.

Burns brought the curtain down on his five years with the Scotland team as assistant to Walter Smith - and before that, Berti Vogts - by quitting on Thursday when instead of featuring on a shortlist to replace Smith, he had not even received a call to let him know whether or not he was in the SFA's plans.

Burns has chosen to remain at Celtic, where he is a first-team coach to Gordon Strachan and head of youth development, but Scotland's players will be furious that the man who helped Smith lead them to the top of their Euro 2008 qualifying group will also be missing when the campaign resumes in March against Georgia and Italy.

Dalglish (pictured) was back at Celtic Park on Friday to pick up a £100,000 cheque for the breast cancer awareness charity run by his wife Marina, a sum which had been generated by Burns and others staging a Celtic-Liverpool Legends match last autumn. Dalglish empathised with Burns over the SFA snub. "You've got to admire Tommy's honesty," said Dalglish. "If it was me, I would have liked a phone call. I don't think the onus was on Tommy to phone them and find out what was happening. The onus was on the SFA to contact Tommy."

Dalglish, who played for Scotland 102 times, has been linked with the national manager's post in the past. "I wouldn't rule it in or out," said the former Liverpool and Blackburn manager. "Until somebody makes a phone call, there is no point hypothesising. If someone asks you a question, you've got a decision to make."

The ripple effect of Smith's decision to quit Scotland for Rangers can be measured by the fact that he has already taken one Scotland player, David Weir, to Rangers this week and would like another, Lee McCulloch.

Wigan have told Rangers they will have to offer £2 million to get McCulloch, but Weir was allowed to leave Everton for nothing. The 36-year-old central defender will make his debut today at Dunfermline.

Weir admits that Burns will be as much of a loss to Scotland as Smith. "I'm disappointed Tommy has left," he said. "He was a big part of the set-up and he was a big part of the success. He was well liked by everyone. There is a big gap to fill."