Glenn And Christian: There Is No Berti Row

Glenn Roeder is dismayed that there have been suggestions that he has had a row with Scotland boss Berti Vogts over Christian Dailly - and the player himself insists there are no problems with his international boss.

Vogts was reported by a German news agency last week to have briefly mentioned Christian and David Weir in despatches in the aftermath of the Faroe Islands draw.

Glenn kept his counsel on the matter, but it reared its head on Thursday - and Glenn is not happy about the way his response has been presented.

He insists he has not 'hit out' at Vogts, and indeed questions the veracity of the reported comments by Vogts - as has the German himself.

Explains Glenn:

"I got asked the question 'what are your feelings about Christian Dailly being publicly criticised by Berti Vogts?'

"All I said was that as a rule it is not a good thing to criticise players publicly and that I feel it is much better to be done in private, then forgotten about.

"What I didn't do, what I haven't done, and what I have no right to do, is criticise Berti Vogts - I have not 'slammed' Berti Vogts and I have not 'slammed' anybody.

"It is not even a criticism; it is an opinion, and my opinion would be that it would have been better had it not been publicly said about Christian and David Weir of Everton.

"Incidentally, Everton have also apparently said how unhappy they are.

"The club managers, David Moyes and myself, have to pick up the pieces and it is my opinion that Christian has been affected.

"He is a hard working professional who gives his all for the club and his all for his country; if he had a poor game for his country, and I didn't see the game live, maybe it would have been better to have a word with Christian in private - that would have been my style.

"No one else would have known and then you can get on with your life; but to be publicly chastised would affect any player and it hasn't helped our cause as we need Christian to be playing as well as he did at the end of last season in the position we are in.

"He is not the sort of person that freely accepts public criticism, like 99% of human beings wouldn't.

"But to say I have 'slammed' Berti in the hope it might cause a row is disappointing - but it is to be what is expected when people twist things around.

"I am certain it won't cause an argument between Berti Vogts and myself - he has already done us a favour by letting Christian be involved in the Newcastle game, when he could have insisted that he travelled to Scotland before their match.

"So I haven't got any real beef with Berti - he has got a tough job at the moment and I have got a very tough job at the moment.

"What I am saying here is to set the record straight - it is just an opinion, and I would have preferred any criticism to have remained private - end of story."

Christian himself has spoken to Vogts, and insists:

"There is not much to say, really - I have spoken to him and it has all been cleared up.

"It has definitely been a misquote and he is not happy with it at all."

Glenn adds:

"That is very possible - I didn't actually see the 'criticism' myself but I was told about it."

Christian reveals that the affair has not done any harm to his respect for Vogts and adds:

"He is sorting it out from his end and that's all there is to it.

"He told me he would never ever do what has been said - and from what I know of him so far that would not be his intention.

"Obviously translations from language to language mean people can twist words, and I think that is what has happened.

"As far as I'm concerned it is nothing and it is not even worth me bothering about - my relationship with him is fine."