Who Will Be The Next Scotland Manager?
December 21, 2009 by Mike
Filed under Betting, Scottish Premier
Back in January 2008, ex Derby and Ipswich manager George Burley took over the Scotland manager’s job, and signed a contract until 2012. Many Scottish fans had reservations about the quality of such an appointment, as Burley was less than proven in club football. Incidentally, he became the third Ipswich manager to manage their country – Alf Ramsey and Bobby Robson had both taken the England job after being employed at Portman Road.
His first match was a relatively successful affair, a 1-1 draw with the ever strong Croatia gave hope and optimism to the nation. However, the situation slowly plummeted, with a 3-1 defeat to the Czech Republic, and a goalless draw with a fairly poor Northern Ireland side. Scotland then went on to lose to minnows Macedonia – this being the first match of their World Cup qualifying campaign, the fans were predictably incensed. Things looked brighter after a 2-1 win over Iceland, and a draw with Norway.
Burley’s side however were heavily defeated in Holland, and embarrassed against Norway – a 4-0 defeat. Automatic qualification, by this point, was out of the question, yet Scotland could still gain a Playoff if they could take 6 points from their remaining games. The team defeated Macedonia 2-0 at Hampden on 5th September 2009, but were defeated by Holland a few days later to end any qualification hopes.
Initially, the Scottish Football Association gave Burley a vote of confidence, noting that they wished him to stay in control of the team for the next European Championship qualification, however, on 15th November 2009, Burley was heavily criticised in the press, and certain reports were alluding to a possible sacking. One day later, on 16th November 2009, Burley was sacked, leaving Scotland to look for a new manager – bookmakers are offering a whole host of odds as to who will take the job, and there is no real front runner, speculation is rife.
