THE PHOTOGRAPHER, Robert Perry, is doing his thing, snapping and chatting and hoping against hope that his patter is going to put his subject at his ease, make him go with the flow a little, to strike a pose he wouldn't normally strike. "Look up, George," he says. And George looks up. "And down." And George looks down. "Look over here. And here. Arms crossed. And uncrossed." George does as he's asked. He's a professional. He's not loving it but he does it, with a smile. "Right, excellent," says Perry. "Come towards me a little. Niiice. Now, how about one where you lunge forward like a cat, growling?"

"What?" says Burley.

"Like a cat. Claws out."

On a list of things Burley is never, ever likely to do, posing as a belligerent moggy ranks up there with running naked around Hampden and taking a subscription to the Daily Record, though not necessarily in that order. (In fact if you were to rank them you'd say he is more likely to do the George Galloway cat thing or the nudey gallop sooner than allowing the Record darken his doorstep.) "Be serious," he says, deadpan, and if you ever wondered about the man's steel then we saw a small flash of it right there. Two words enough to show a tougher side and make Perry The Unembarrassable flinch a little. "You're not liking that idea? That's okay, George. No problem."

IT'S THURSDAY morning and we're in his office at Hampden. Burley has just heard the news about Alan Hutton and he's doing his best to put a brave face on it. But then he's used to that. The loss to Macedonia, the draw with Norway, Kris Boyd, tabloid flak; it's been a rough ride so far, a lot of days trying to sell some positivity when negativity is the only emotion in town. Where to start, where to start? Can we begin with Boyd? Fire away, he says.

"Where did it all go wrong with you two?"

"Everybody wants to play, don't they? But there are times when players have to deal with not playing and Kris felt he couldn't do that."

"Could you see his point? I mean, he didn't get much of a chance to shine under you?"

"I could understand his disappointment but remember, I had Kris in every one of my squads. I said from day one that I wanted committed players. I said reputations and egos are out the window. A player has to be 100% committed. Not 50% or 90% but 100%. Anything less? Step aside."

"There's been talk that he trained poorly before the Norway game, that he didn't impress you at all."

"Well, it's important for players to know that if they look bright and sharp in training then they'll get the opportunity."

"And Boyd wasn't bright and sharp?"

"You look at it, don't you. I pick the team based on what I see in training. You can't please everybody, can you?"

"You liked what you saw in Chris Iwelumo."

"Yeah, he's a leader. He gives you other things. He holds the ball up, you can play it in to him and he'll bring others into the game. Hardly ever loses it in the air. That combination I like. He had eight goals in the Championship before Norway as well. He was flying."

"But he couldn't score from three yards?"

"It was unfortunate. He's a big character and he's bounced back well. He's scored seven times for Wolves since the Norway game. Kris has been scoring, too. Maybe this has helped him, I don't know."

"Were you shocked when he walked?"

"I was disappointed. In the papers the next day. Not great. Players make decisions, but there are professional ways of doing things. Every team I've been in charge of I've had professional players doing things the right way."

"Did you speak to Walter Smith?"

"I did, yeah. Walter's always been terrific. He said he wished the boy had spoken to him earlier. I don't think Walter agreed with him either."

"Ever had a player refuse to play for you before?"

"Not in that manner, no. Actually, it's not that he's not playing for me, it's his country he's not playing for. Who I work for is Scotland. I don't feel I work for the SFA or Gordon Smith or George Peat. I work for my country. I tell the players that. You've come here not to play for me but for your country. It's very important, that, because managers move on, chief executives and presidents move on, but your country remains. Kris didn't walk out on me, he walked out on Scotland. He said he's not going to play for his country as long as I'm manager. I might be here another 10 years. It might be five minutes, but it might be 10 years. Nobody knows. It's not about George Burley or Kris Boyd. It's about Scotland. The Tartan Army spending fortunes, their lives revolving around it, talking about games that happened 25 years ago in incredible detail and how they got there by plane, bus, taxi and canoe. They get there. They always get there. So you give everything you have for them."

Of course, if Burley was being mischievous he could have pointed to Boyd's stats at Rangers to support his views. The striker has not played one single minute for Rangers in the last five Old Firm games. He did not start in 17 out of the 19 games Rangers played in Europe last season. In six Champions League matches he played no part in five of them and appeared for six minutes in the other. Of the last seven games in the UEFA Cup run he played a grand total of four minutes. If Burley didn't use him then he was merely following a precedent long since established by Smith, about whose judgment you will hear precious few gripes.

In Burley's world, though, there are no shortage of snipers. He's made mistakes, sure. His team has not got off to a good start in the campaign but he has been without Barry Ferguson and Hutton, arguably his two best players. Some allowances must be made for that. Two of the three games played have been away. It's not rosy but it's not barren either. And he hasn't deserved the vilification he's received in some quarters.

He's careful about qualifying this. His press coverage as a whole has not been unfair but some of it has been personal and unjustifiable.

"Mark Hateley wrote a thing (in the Record) after the Argentina match and made some of the most stupid comments I've ever heard in all my life. He said I was a puppet of the SFA for agreeing to the game. That's just ridiculous. Ridiculous. It's crazy stuff. Very annoying.

"Look, I'm here to be shot down, okay? That's fair enough. The job comes with criticism. That's fine. But when it gets personal – and it has got personal – then I have a problem with it. When my mother and father are reading it, a man who is 84 years old, it's not nice, not nice at all. You've asked me about it and there you have it. But that's life, isn't it? If anything, that stuff just makes me stronger."

What Hateley said was this…

"Who the hell does he (Burley) think he is kidding? It seems to me as if, rather than work on the shape and formation he'll need to employ in Holland, Burley attempted to appease the fans (against Argentina) by going on the attack. That is another major sign of weakness."

And this…

"Honestly, this was a ludicrous fixture to take on and it worries me that Burley … wasn't strong enough to stand up for himself and tell Gordon Smith and George Peat where to shove it. In fact, it makes me question why this pair appointed such a soft touch in the first place."

And not forgetting this…

"It strikes me now they (the SFA) shirked confrontation when they turned (Graeme) Souness down for the job. And they went for a man who could be manipulated instead. That is a dereliction of duty."

The column was illustrated by an image of Burley as a puppet being dangled on the end of his chief executive's strings. It was barmy stuff, utterly ludicrous, completely lacking in any logic. More than any other title in this country the Record has gone for Burley's jugular and it's been nasty at times.

"The Record's sports editor left me a message the day after (the Hateley piece) to apologise. What can you do? People write things. A guy (working on the same newspaper) had a go before the Macedonia game. Before we had even started the campaign he was criticising me for the way I speak. Totally personal, totally uncalled for. And before we'd even kicked a ball? What he thought he was doing, I don't know, but it was unfair. I think everybody could see that. There's been other things as well but you move on, you forget about it." "Well, let's not move on just yet," I say. "Tell me about Lee McCulloch's retirement, a story broken by your bête noire."

"The McCulloch thing came out of the blue. He hadn't been involved in the squads. He'd been injured, then he made the announcement."

"It was said that he'd retired because of you."

"I don't know about that."

"It was said by your favourite tabloid, post-Boyd, there were other players, one or two, who were thinking of walking out."

"Yeah, that was reported. You know, I spoke to Paul Hartley who I get on tremendously well with. Paul's a player, but he's a friend as well. I spoke to Barry Ferguson about it. They were upset. A press man asked Barry are you thinking about retiring and he was upset. He said 'what kind of a question is that to ask me?' He's a proud Scotsman. Barry came in before the Norway game, jumping up and down desperate to play. In the dressing-room before kick-off. So enthusiastic. I think Rangers would have liked to ease him back in but Barry's so enthusiastic he wants to play, so he played against Argentina. As a manager you have to be totally focused because there are so many niggly things that are said but you have to live with them."

"Have you heard the names that are rumoured to be thinking about retiring?" I ask. "The gossipmongers have it that Kevin Thomson and Allan McGregor may be pondering things but that could be more nonsense, right?"

"Kevin was involved against Northern Ireland and hasn't been involved otherwise so I don't know about that one. He's a good player. Allan played his first full game for Scotland against Argentina and was outstanding. He's been troubled with an injury, had fluid in his knee for the last three or four weeks and he could easily have called off but was keen to play. Actually, I thought he was going to cry off beforehand because Walter had a word with me and said he might, but Allan's thought 'no, I'll get through it' and he did and he played excellently. That's all I can say about that."

He says plenty more. He says that no amount of stick or innuendo is going to distract him from his work, however personal it may get. He says he's honest and he's focused and he's true to his beliefs. Every decision he makes is done for the right reasons, whether it comes off or not. He believes in the players he has and the players he sees coming through. He admires their ability and their desire. He thinks Scotland can qualify for a major championship, maybe this time, maybe next time, definitely some time, hopefully soon. He's a force of positivity in an increasingly negative environment and he's not changing that for anybody.

He's up against it now. He knows he has to prove himself in the job, the very same concept that seemed anathema to Mr Boyd of Ibrox. "We all have to prove ourselves. Every day, every game that's what we're trying to do. It's what we have to do."