McGregor brought into Scotland fold

Alex McLeish has handed Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor his first Scotland call-up a day after he was appointed national team boss.

The former Rangers manager has also recalled Steven Caldwell, Kevin McNaughton, Richard Hughes, Ian Murray and Steven Thompson for a team gathering.

McLeish has named injured players such as Everton forward James McFadden and Rangers' on-loan Wigan defender Andy Webster in his 30-man pool.

The squad will meet up on Sunday evening and will have two days together at Turnberry Hotel in Ayrshire, with a series of training sessions and meetings planned.

There is no place for Lokomotiv Moscow striker Garry O'Connor, who failed to meet with the rest of the squad ahead of the trip to Ukraine for Scotland's last game under Walter Smith.

O'Connor, who played for McLeish at Hibernian, then failed to contact Smith to explain his reasons for missing the game.

McLeish revealed on Monday that he planned to hold talks over O'Connor to discover the "lie of the land".

Scotland have a B international against Finland on Wednesday, February 7, four days after the squad meet up, and a number of players that would normally expect to be in a 30-man Scotland pool look likely to be named in the B squad.

Hibernian pair Scott Brown and Kevin Thomson, Celtic forwards Derek Riordan and Shaun Maloney, and Rangers winger Chris Burke are among those McLeish is likely to call up for the Rugby Park game.

Celtic keeper David Marshall, who is on loan at Norwich, has also been left out of the squad.