Gordon Strachan will continue as Scotland manager for the remainder of the World Cup qualifying campaign after the Scottish FA board yesterday unanimously backed him.
The 59-year-old former Aberdeen midfielder’s future has been under intense scrutiny after the 3-0 defeat by England at Wembley last Friday.
However, after a five-hour meeting which was attended by all eight members of the SFA board at Hampden – president Alan McRae, chief executive Stewart Regan, vice-president Rod Petrie, SPFL representatives Ralph Topping and Michael Mulraney, Scottish Junior FA representative Tom Johnston and non-executive directors Barrie Jackson and Gary Hughes – it was agreed Strachan should remain in charge for the rest of the campaign.
Scotland have taken four points from a possible 12 so far in the campaign and have won just three of their last 10 competitive games but the SFA is standing by its man.
Stewart Regan, Scottish FA chief executive, said: “The board has considered the team’s performance since the start of the campaign and subsequently discussed the disappointing points total after four matches.
“Gordon shared the disappointment of the board and, of course, the supporters. He is adamant, however, that we can recover the position and believes a play-off place still to be attainable. The board are convinced that he still has the hunger for this challenge and we have four home qualifiers in 2017 to rejuvenate our campaign.
“We support Gordon unanimously in improving our qualification prospects.”
Strachan concedes the start to the campaign has been less than encouraging but he insists he can still lead the team to qualification for the finals in Russia in 2018.
He said: “We were all extremely disappointed with the result on Friday but, having reflected on our performance, I still believe we can get ourselves back into contention in the group.
“There are still 18 points to play for and the players, the staff and I, as in previous games, will give everything we have to turn things around. I have said consistently that our supporters deserve success and a return to a major tournament finals.
“Although we have had a difficult start to the campaign, I firmly believe that this group of players, together with our supporters, can maximise our chances of a play-off place.”
Mission Impossible? Page 58
