Burley has to go but Scotland’s problems are deeper than that

Following Scotland’s pretty dismal failure to qualify for the World Cup many people thought George Burley would be relieved of his duties as national manager. He stayed in the role and then led his side to a terrible 2-0 defeat in a friendly in Japan. To be fair to him he had very few regular players available for that game but it was poor none the less.

Excuses

He still kept his job and led his side to their friendly in Wales on Saturday. This time there were no excuses. Apart from Celtic’s Scott Brown and Sunderland keeper Craig Gordon they were at full strength and playing against a young an inexperienced Welsh team who were without the few stars they have. Defeat was unthinkable.

What transpired, of course, was a 3-0 defeat that was so bad that it defied description.

It seems that the Scottish Football Association have now decided that enough is enough and Burley will be replaced.

Struggle

The question is, has George Burley become a very bad manager or would any manager struggle with the scant resources the Scotland boss has at his disposal. Three wins in fourteen games is a record that no manager would be proud of but is there really much he could have done to improve it?

The facts suggest that he is not a bad manager. He had a successful eight year spell at Ipswich were he took the club to the Premier League and the UEFA Cup. He then moved on to Derby, Hearts and Southampton where success was less dramatic but each of those clubs were going through difficult times off the pitch during his reign.

His contract with Scotland is due to run until 2012 but that clearly won’t happen now. Scotland have decided that to move forward they need a new man at the helm and they may be right.

Quality

Having said that, the Scotland side at the moment is lacking in quality and sadly for Scotland, they seem to be lacking in the traditional passion and fighting qualities of their sides of the past. That may be the manager’s fault but the finger should surely be pointed at the players rather more.

The likes of Kenny Dalglish and Alan Hansen must look at the current crop of Scottish players and wonder what has happened.

The reality is that Scotland’s star man is Birmingham’s James McFadden. This is a man who failed to make the grade at Everton and hasn’t always held down a first team place at Birmingham. Right back Alan Hutton can’t get a game at Tottenham and they have played David Weir in the centre of the defence. He has been a fine defender but he is thirty-nine years old for goodness sake.

Chalice

Naismith, Stephen Fletcher, Gallagher? There are no international goals from that side. Darren Fletcher is probably the only true international class player they currently possess and that will not be enough for whoever takes the role that really suit’s the description of being a poisoned chalice.

I understand why Burley has to go but replacing him will have little effect on the success that the current group of players are capable of having.