George Burley’s troubled reign as Scotland manager looks set to come to an end this week.
The Scottish Football Association will meet in the next few days to discuss Burley’s future and it is likely to signal an end to his spell in charge of the national team.
Burley managed to hold on to his job in the wake of his failure to steer Scotland to a play-off spot for the World Cup finals but his position has come under intense scrutiny again after Saturday’s 3-0 defeat by Wales.
With a record of just three wins in 14 matches, the defeat in Cardiff now looks set to be the match which finally brings an end to a difficult reign.
Furious travelling fans in the Cardiff City Stadium turned on the manager after Scotland found themselves trailing by three goals after just 35 minutes, demanding his dismissal and directing verbal abuse towards the beleaguered Burley.
Burley himself then attempted to dodge questions about his future in his post-match press conference before eventually conceding it would not be his decision whether he would still be in charge for the next game against the Czech Republic in March.
When asked if he still expects to be in charge of Scotland when they host the Czechs, Burley said at the end of the Cardiff game: “That’s up to other people, isn’t it? I’m just thinking about this game, it wasn’t good enough, we’ve got to do better and we were beaten too easily.”
SFA vice-president Alan McRae, of Cove Rangers, is unable to meet with the rest of the board today but a meeting will be convened in the next few days, with Burley unlikely to gain a second vote of confidence from his employers after remaining in the role following the failure to qualify for the World Cup.
Burley met SFA chiefs in September within days of the defeat by Holland, which had ended any hope of Scotland participating in next summer's World Cup finals in South Africa.
On that occasion, he managed to convince SFA office-bearers that he was the right man to lead Scotland into the qualifying campaign for the 2012 European championship after a “full and frank” review of their doomed World Cup campaign.
He had been under huge pressure heading into the final two qualifiers against Holland and Macedonia but it was felt there were enough positives from that double-header to suggest the national team was moving in the right direction.
However, it would appear that, just two months later, Burley has finally lost the backing of the SFA.
He has endured a turbulent period in charge of the national team since his appointment in January 2008, with Rangers striker Kris Boyd’s refusal to play under him and the infamous ‘Boozegate’ affair involving Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor among the major flashpoints during his time at the helm.