Home Thoughts From Abroad

Baton Rouge

So Berti Vogts has finally resigned. It's a bit rich of him to blame the fans or the papers for his departure, the real reason he had to go was because the results haven't been nearly good enough. No matter how mediocre the players or how difficult the opponents, Scotland still ought to be at least competitive and too often in recent times we haven't been. Despite that I'm sorry to see him go. He was a man with impeccable credentials and the right ideas on how to structure the national setup. He just couldn't turn that into victories out on the park. Maybe he would have been better employed in a more hands-off technical director's role with a homegrown coach alongside, but that would never have been agreed to.

The field to replace him seems to consist of Walter Smith and Gordon Strachan, and either would be an excellent choice. But the SFA has a history of throwing curveballs and I wouldn't be surprised if a lesser known candidate such as Eric Black, who I suspect has been groomed to take the job throughout his coaching career, emerged to take the position. Either way, a resounding win over Sweden followed by three points in Italy and everything will look rosy again. Simple, eh?