Craig Levein, Scotland manager

Congratulations to Craig Levein on getting the Scotland job. Here's to a successful qualifying campaign for Euro 2012.

I was at Scotland's matches in France 98, the last time we qualified for a major tournament. Being with the tartan Army at the global festival of football that is the World Cup was unforgettable. It used to be that the big question was whether we could get past the group stage at one of the big tournaments, now it's just negotiating the qualifiers that would be an achievement. We'd all love to get to the big stage again.

I'm glad SFA chief exec Gordon Smith said that they were viewing the candidates for the job as widely as possible i.e. that the manager didn't have to be Scottish. I found the view of sections of the press that the person had to be Scottish as potentially xenophobic (not a new problem), and real baby-and-bath water stuff because it always harped back to the Berti Vogts era. Newsflash - just becase Vogts was rubbish, it doesn't mean every manager outside of Scotland is.

This is the mistake England made after Sven Goran Eriksson. They ended up with the dismal reign of Steve McClaren, just because he was English. They now seem to be enjoying the management of the decorated Fabio Capello. Another example not a million miles away is how Giovanni Trappatoni got Ireland within a Thierry Henry handball of qualifying for the World Cup next year. Partly no doubt these managers bring something additional to the party, but at some level, I'm sure the players must rise to their presence.

Apparently we don't have the money for someone of that kind of stature, and the SFA said they were open for the same kind of sponsorship agreement that Ireland have with Trapp. Maybe it is the case anyway that we need to have a manager that can do more with less. That is what we said about George Burley though. However, our players are not as bad as some would have us believe (I don't think Ireland for one are man for man that much superior) and he ran into problems with some of his better players precisely because they held him in less regard than their club managers.

I hope that Levein is given the respect which his post is due. My concern is that his lack of big match experience will count against him. I hope that fear is entirely misplaced. He was my pick for the job before Burley was appointed in 2008. Surveying the likely candidates for the job in Scotland, he is the one who shows the most potential. Let's get behind him and the boys.

Comments

[cynicalHighlander]

"Apparently we don't have the money for someone of that kind of stature,"

Why oh why does everything have to come down to money? If we take that further we would be paying our fishermen, coalminers, water workers far more than bankers who are leaches on modern society. Its about time we started to equate real earnings to those we depend on rather than those who can inflate their persona/egos in the medias eyes because it sells.