Burley says he acted to protect his reputation with the other players

Scotland manager George Burley says he ended the international careers of Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor to retain the respect of his squad.

Burley acted after the pair were involved in a drinking session after the defeat by the Netherlands and made V-signs on the bench against Iceland.

"It's not a decision that was taken lightly, but the SFA have to set an example to other players," he said.

"I have to have the respect of the players and make tough decisions."

The pair had initially been dropped to the bench by Burley following the early-hours drinking session at the team hotel following the 3-0 World Cup qualifying loss in Amsterdam.

However, Burley imposed the lifetime bans following the public criticism of the Rangers duo's actions.

"I met (SFA chief executive) Gordon Smith on Thursday and we talked through the arrangements at Cameron House and the events leading up to the game," Burley said.

The gestures had clearly made a lot of people very angry George Burley

"We knew we had to make sure what happened would never happen again and also we really wanted to draw a line under it.

"At that stage, I hadn't really seen any papers or watched the match again. When I did, I realised we needed to speak again.

Burley added: "The gestures had clearly made a lot of people very angry and this was obviously something completely different to the incidents at Cameron House.

"We talked again first thing on Friday morning and Gordon, George Peat and myself were in agreement about what needed to be done."

Ferguson, 31, has been stripped of the Rangers captaincy and both he and McGregor, 27, were fined two weeks' wages and suspended for a fortnight.

Rangers said their actions had brought the club into disrepute and their long-term futures at Ibrox remain uncertain.

SFA president George Peat has demanded a further investigation into the matter.

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