Dundee?s feud with the Trinidad and Tobago FA is set to rumble on after boss Jim Duffy only found out that defender Brent Sancho had been injured by speaking to the player himself.
By Robert ThomsonThe imposing centre half had to have stitches in a head wound during the World Cup qualifier against St Kitts and Nevis at the weekend.
But the Trinidadian authorities failed to inform the Dundee manager and he only discovered what had happened when he spoke to his player on the telephone.
It is not the first time the Dark Blues have been angered by a lack of communication from the Caribbean, with an earlier dispute erupting after Sancho was delayed on his way back from a previous international and consequently missing the Bank of Scotland Premier League clash with Motherwell.
In response to that incident, Dundee requested that their players be booked on the first available flight back to Scotland to avoid any more unnecessary absences.
However, Sancho and international team-mate Kelvin Jack were only given tickets to fly on Thursday evening and Duffy is not satisfied with the situation.
He will make his feelings known to Trinidad and Tobago but, after his last protestations fell on deaf ears, clearly holds out little hope of an amicable settlement.
He said: ?I now know that Brent had four stitches put in a head wound he picked up against St Kitts on Saturday.
?He played against Mexico on Wednesday, but we?ll have to have a good look at him first before deciding whether he can play against Celtic.
?I only found out about it by speaking to him on the phone and, although we know players do get injured when they are away playing for their country, we want to be kept informed but again that has not happened.
?This is not the first time we have had this kind of problem with the Trinidadians and we will be making our feelings known.
?After the problems with Brent last time we requested that our players are booked on the first flight back.
?The game was on Wednesday and I find it hard to believe that the first flight was last night. It is annoying, but there is very little we can do about it apart from continue to make requests to them.?
Duffy takes his team to Celtic and knows they must improve defensively if they are to get any sort of result from Martin O?Neill?s champions.
Last time out, Dundee allowed Hibs to score four times and, although they showed great character to battle back and scrape a 4-4 draw, the Dens Park boss wants to see a dramatic improvement.
He said: ?We?ll have to be a lot sharper than we were against Hibs.
?I was pleased with the players? attitude because they did well to fight their way back into the game, but we shouldn?t have let ourselves get into that situation in the first place.
?Celtic are motoring along as ever, so we?ll go there and be as positive as we can and just see what happens.?
Dundee have a doubt over midfielder Mark Fotheringham after he picked up an injury in a recent reserve game. On a more positive note, goalkeeper Derek Soutar is fit again and is challenging Kelvin Jack for the number one jersey.
