George Burley has revealed it was not his decision to banish Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor from international football. And the Scotland boss also claims he did not sanction the drinking session that sparked the downfall of the Rangers duo.

Ferguson and McGregor were given lifetime bans following their behaviour before and during the World Cup qualifying win over Iceland, although the Scottish Football Association have since refused to rule out a dramatic u-turn.

The governing body’s handling of the whole incident has been criticised and Burley was keen to set the record straight about his own role in the affair.

“I don’t think it’s been handled greatly,” he admitted. “I just want to clarify a few matters and be black and white about the facts. It’s important people know how the SFA works.

“The Scotland manager doesn’t decide who is banned. The only people who make that decision are the board of the SFA and I’m not on the board.

“They ask the manager what he thinks and I was very disappointed and hurt by the actions of Ferguson and McGregor on the bench. But I stress, it’s not me, it’s not the chief executive, it’s not the president, but the board as a whole who decide these matters.

“They decide whether to ban anyone and decide if somebody should get back in the squad. They might come back to me in the future and ask for my opinion, which I will give them.

“But I stress, I didn’t ban them. Although I felt totally let down.”

Ferguson and McGregor were dropped to the bench against Iceland after it emerged the pair had indulged in a lengthy drinking session at the team hotel after returning from the 3-0 defeat in Holland.

They then hit the headlines again by flicking V-signs during the game at Hampden, which led to them being told their Scotland careers were over, as well as earning a two-week suspension from Rangers.

Reports at the time claimed Burley had given permission for his players to have a couple of drinks after returning in the early hours of the morning from Amsterdam.

But he insists that was not the case, revealing: “The players all went for food and two of my staff innocently agreed to allow them to have a drink. I was unaware the players were at the bar.

“If I had known, I would have arranged for someone to make sure they went to their beds after one drink.”