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Scotland: Scottish FA to clarify future of manager Craig Levein

By Jonathan SutherlandBBC Scotland

Last updated on .From the section Footballcomments30

Scotland boss Craig Levein

Craig Levein's future as Scotland boss should be clarified by the end of the week.

The Scottish FA board are expected to meet on either Thursday or Friday to discuss the issue.

Levein's position has come under intense scrutiny after World Cup qualifying defeats by Belgium and Wales all but ended Scotland's hopes of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.

The Scots are bottom of Group A with only two points from four matches.

The former Dundee United, Hearts and Leicester City manager has led Scotland to victory in only three of his 12 competitive fixtures in charge

Interview - Former SFA chief Gordon Smith

Former Scotland captain Davie Weir has said a new manager would not solve the national side's woes.

Speaking earlier this month, Weir said: "I don't think that, by removing Craig, we'll all of a sudden qualify for championships - I don't think that's the case.

"I don't think changing the manager is going to solve the problem."

However, former SFA chief executive Gordon Smith has said Levein should resign because Scotland have yet to qualify for a major finals during his tenure.

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30 comments

  • Comment posted by jj606, at 14:31 30 Oct 2012

    Yeah, the SPL is terrible and it's controlled by incompetents but the Scotland players play at a good level in England and for teams like Celtic. I don't think they are necessarily good enough to get the results to qualify, but they should at least be good enough put in much better performances against teams like Serbia, Macedonia and Wales. They aren't playing well and the buck stops with Levein

  • Comment posted by sthomson18, at 14:27 30 Oct 2012

    His job is to get results with what is a relatively strong Scotland squad. He has utterly failed in that regard and we just seem to be getting steadily worse under his leadership. His selection choices are bizarre (which would be fine if they actually worked) and the way the team plays under him is appalling, negative, timid football filled with numerous schoolboy errors and atrocious defending.

  • Comment posted by sthomson18, at 15:20 30 Oct 2012

    Yes simply blaming the manager won't work,but neither will ignoring the fact that Craig Levein is not capable of managing the national team.The manager is responsible for tactics and team selection. Levein has failed in both these areas.He should also be responsible for improving the terrible mentality of the majority of Scotland players, either through sports psychologists or himself,also failed.

  • Comment posted by Jim G, at 13:09 30 Oct 2012

    Levein MUST GO. He say's time and time again that he has a system he believes is best & he has always used that system in club football and now Scotland. He should wake up, it didnt work at the clubs he was at, he never won anything and all his results were mediocre. The SFA were cajoled into employing him by pundits such as Chick Young & Richard Gordon who talked him up. The fans didnt want him.

  • Comment posted by User0158768150, at 20:03 31 Oct 2012

    The poorest, by far, student to pass out from seamill. Get rid ... NOW

  • Comment posted by Mightykwin, at 14:36 30 Oct 2012

    He has no personality and I just can't see players responding to him in a positive way. He's had a go, it's not worked and it's time to let someone else take over.

  • Comment posted by User0467486767, at 13:56 30 Oct 2012

    His reign has been terrible and he HAS to go! People keep saying we are not a force anymore but we are as much of a force as we have EVER been. We have the players to make it to these major finals, just never to win them. For the last 40+ years the majority of our players have played in Englands top flight and its not much different now. We have decent players... Just need a decent coach.

  • Comment posted by Hawkeyethejock, at 13:50 30 Oct 2012

    Poor quality players=a poor quality league=a poor quality national side=poor results=poor manager=poor quality players etc etc etc etc....

    What do we really expect from such a pool of low achievers, either on the pitch or off it? I'm amazed we have managed to get two points!

  • Comment posted by Generalhague, at 12:53 30 Oct 2012

    Levein oot. Plays good club players out of position or in a formation that they don't know. Play the players where they know what to do.

  • Comment posted by jj606, at 13:30 30 Oct 2012

    I will never watch Scotland as long as Levein is in charge. I am tired of hearing him say that performances have been good when they clearly haven't. I was astonished that he got the job in the first place because I was never particularly impressed with the club teams he was in charge of. Why keep him when there are very good candidates available for the job now who have a better pedigree?

  • Comment posted by sthomson18, at 14:58 30 Oct 2012

    I think David Moyes is the obvious choice for replacement. He's done an amazing job with Everton especially considering the financial constraints he's been working under over the years. Time for the SFA to step up and snare him, offer him some serious cash (at least match his Everton wages). You do need to spend money for success after all.

  • Comment posted by Fairmindedcitizen, at 18:15 30 Oct 2012

    Personally I'd stick with Levein as I don't see any realistic possibility of reaching the finals of any competition unless we deal with the real issues head on and stop kidding ourselves. Our game needs radical overhaul, root and branch. Most important of all its time that the SFA intervened to stop the narrow minded negative Scottish Media, particularly Traynor picking our teams.

  • Comment posted by sthomson18, at 15:31 30 Oct 2012

    10 - The Premier League is NOT terrible. Compare it to similar top tier leagues in similar countries like Norway, Denmark and so on and we actually have a pretty strong league. I think a lot of Scottish fans have unrealistic expectations of what their clubs can achieve, living in the days of the past when we were expected to do well in Europe and so on. Other countries are much stronger now.

  • Comment posted by D1679114840169, at 13:49 30 Oct 2012

    Perhaps a Director of Football style role might have been better for Levein in restrospect. I like the people he has brought in e.g Wotte and the ideas they have to develop Scottish football in the longer term. But his tenure as coach has been a complete failure. Poor results and desperate displays and all the while Levein believes himself to be a footballing visionary. Time to go!

  • Comment posted by User0144938805, at 19:05 30 Oct 2012

    Craig must stay! It's the only way we (Wales) may get another point from this group.

  • Comment posted by User0439756180, at 17:50 31 Oct 2012

    Scotland is a country capable of producing one of the finest cyclists on the planet, one of the finest Tennis players on the planet, one of the finest rowers on the planet,THE finest football managers on the planet, one of the finest footballers on the planet, etc. Players and manager are NOT THE ISSUE. SFA OVERHAUL. Whoever runs Scottish Olympic development must revolutionize football.

  • Comment posted by User0816918228, at 01:03 31 Oct 2012

    To @GiantJambo, has Jimmy Calderwood actually ever done a bad job!?
    I wouldn't currently want him for Scotland, but Hearts would've been much better with Calderwood than McGlynn!

    Anyway, WALTER SMITH must be approached first.
    None of the other managers I'd be excited by unless we coup Moyes, which won't happen.
    Davies, Mccall and Coyle would be next up

    P.s Strachan did terrible for Middlesbrough

  • Comment posted by Fraser Shaw, at 17:51 30 Oct 2012

    Agree with that. Don 't think the Tartan Army have really forgiven or forgotten Levein for his formation against the Czechs.
    I think it demonstrated just how out of his depth his is and remains to be.
    It's a difficult decision as he is not tactically aware but we have probably the worse national team for years. Would Owen Coyle or the return of McLeish be beneficial? Strachan - think not!

  • Comment posted by sthomson18, at 15:56 30 Oct 2012

    16 - Wrong. Look at the level most of our players are playing at week in week out. Most of them are playing in what's currently considered the best league in the world. We do have a team capable of finishing comfortably in 3rd place and even challenging Belgium and Croatia for 1st and 2nd. We should have beaten Wales, we weren't unlucky they were. Berra's rugby tackle in our box and so on.

  • Comment posted by User0140026479, at 19:52 30 Oct 2012

    Face it, not just the manager's fault. The players are useless too & the SFA far from blameless. For the salaries they're paid & the cossetted life they lead, reasonable to expect them to give 100% over 90 mins particularly when representing their country. Is it really too much to ask? Don't know the meaning of hard work. About time they actually proved their worth instead of feeling hard done by.

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