Scotland captain Darren Fletcher says that the entire squad is behind under pressure manager Craig Levein, but realistically how long does the Scotland boss have left before he is shown the exit door?
No one can question the passion and commitment that Craig Levein has shown during his time as the manager of the Scottish national side. What can be questioned though are the results as Scotland sit second bottom of their World Cup qualifying group after two home draws from their first two matches and then a defeat away in Cardiff against Wales.
It all leads to the question of how much longer Levein has left. Fletcher has to be praised for speaking out quickly to take some of the pressure away from the manager and he says it’s the responsibility of the players to perform. Levein badly needs a result as Scotland go away to Belgium in their last qualifier of the current international break.
“The players are fully behind the manager. We’re desperate for the performance and the win for the manager, because we believe in him, as a team, as a group. We’ve seen the work he puts in, the way he treats the players, the attention to detail that goes in to every game,” said Fletcher as reported on the BBC Football website.
Should Scotland lose their next match against Belgium then the Scottish FA is going to be in a very difficult position. They will be faced with the option of sticking with Levein or getting rid of him for someone else, in the hope that someone else can pull together a few wins and at least get Scotland into the World Cup play-off matches where they will have a chance of going to Brazil in 2014.
All that will happen if they leave things, is that Scotland may get to the end of qualifying and may not be anywhere near qualification for the World Cup. Levein will be sacked and the Scottish FA will be criticised for having not acted sooner. If they get rid of him now then it places all sorts of new pressure on the manager coming in because he is being brought in with only one clear purpose; to take Scotland to the next World Cup.
If that doesn’t happen, with a change of manager half way through qualification, then Scotland will be back at square one and the point is that Scotland may as well be back at square one with an experienced international coach who knows all of the current players well as opposed to someone that will then not have a chance to prove himself until the qualification for the European Championship in 2016 kicks in.
“Sometimes they can be long these international trips but they don’t feel as long because we know the detail that goes in from the manager, he treats us like adults, with respect, we’re allowed to voice our opinions but ultimately he has the final decision and everyone respects him for that,” added Fletcher.
image: © Ronnie Macdonald
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