SFA Place Their Bets On Scotland Revival As New National Boss Is Named

The SFA has finally listened to the fans and appointed its new manager in the form of Gordon Strachan. The 55-year-old former Celtic, Middlesbrough, Southampton and Coventry boss was presented to the media yesterday to draw to a close the speculation over who would eventually be chosen to replace Craig Levein. Strachan, the fans and bookies favourite from the start since Levein’s dismissal, seemed relaxed yet proud about the prospect of managing his country and the ambitious task of restoring some national pride. After an abysmal start to World Cup 2014 qualifying, which has resulted in Scotland lying bottom of Group A with only two points in four games, Strachan’s first task is to repair the spirit of his team and pick up the pieces of Levein’s disastrous reign. Replacing the worst Scotland manager on record, even worse than Berti Vogts, with a 22% win rate in all competitive games, Strachan will not struggle to eclipse what Levein did, as long as he can get the team playing again. The job may be seen by many as a poison chalice, but for the Scottish Hall of Fame inductee, it’s the right challenge at the right time in his career.

After a successful playing career spanning over 26 years including spells at Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry, the former FWA Footballer of the Year took up his first managerial job at Coventry following Ron Atkinson’s move upstairs to the Director of Football role. Having worked for a year previously as assistant manager to Ron and having played for him at Manchester United, he took the job with Atkinson’s blessing. It was during this time he would form a close bond with Garry Pendrey who joined Coventry in 1998 as assistant to Gordon following Alex Miller’s departure. The two grew close and Garry would end up following Strachan throughout his managerial career, including subsequent moves to Southampton, Celtic and then Middlesbrough. During the duo’s time at Celtic, they fought back the challenge of a Rangers team in transition, managed firstly by Strachan’s close friend and former Aberdeen teammate Alex McLeish, then French manager Paul Le Guen and eventually former Scotland manager Walter Smith, to win back to back titles for three successive years. Strachan’s time in the east end of Glasgow was his most rewarding as a manager as he finally experienced European football and in particular Champions League football as a manager. After failing to win the title in his four-year, Strachan left the club to take up his final managerial appointment at Middlesbrough but his time here would be restricted to only a year after struggling to change the fortunes of the north-east club.

Strachan’s new job may however be his toughest yet. Sitting bottom of the group with qualification hanging by a thread and looking less likely, Strachan knows he needs to turn things around and quickly. With only one friendly against Estonia before a crunch double-header against Wales and Serbia, Strachan has little time to experiment. But his honesty in the press conference yesterday will come as a relief to the tartan army as Strachan looks to find a formation that works for the players he has first before tinkering with it later. After watching the sometimes inept tactics employed by Levein during his reign, including the much publicised 4-6-0 formation he adopted against a poor Czech Republic side in an important qualifying game, fans will be confident that the players who take the field against Wales in March will be relaxed enough with where they are supposed to be playing, that they may be actually able to play instead. Strachan also admitted to the media that the international game has improved over the years (Belgium’s rise along with Serbia as technical teams are good examples of this) so qualification for major tournaments is harder than ever. Scotland will need to adapt to survive and play better to qualify but Strachan knows this after watching endless hours of both domestic and international football since leaving Middlesbrough in late 2010.

Besides the team, Strachan will know that half of the battle he faces is controlling the media which turned on Levein fairly quickly into his reign as national boss, in some cases so severally that Levein was unable to recover and by the end became a bumbling wreck, repeatedly stating the remaining number of points available to Scotland in qualification, despite defeat after defeat. Strachan should be able to cope however as he has adopted a likeable style that draws the media in but controls them as he wants. His ability to make light of a situation or crack the occasional joke plays well into the media’s hands who cannot help but laugh and move quickly on. Qualification for next year’s World Cup, however, is no laughing matter and Strachan will know that it will be difficult to get the points needed to reach the tournament in Brazil, despite the fans hopes and prayers. Focusing on France 2016 should be a more realistic goal but Strachan has a never say die attitude and in his own words, his team will give 100% to their forthcoming qualification ties and above all else give it “their best try”. Realistically this is all the Scottish fans can hope for at this stage in the qualification process.

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