THE SFA were last night urged to seriously consider appointing a foreign manager again if Gordon Strachan stands down from his Scotland post - despite the disappointment of the Berti Vogts era.
A large number of disgruntled Scotland supporters have called for Strachan to be sacked following the 3-0 defeat to Slovakia in A Russia 2018 qualifier in Trnava on Tuesday night.
Paul Lambert, the former Norwich City, Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers manager, has been installed as bookmakers’ favourite to take over and Alex Neil, Stevie Clarke and Alex McLeish have all been mentioned as possible contenders.
However, Ray Houghton, the Glasgow-born midfielder who played 73 times for the Republic of Ireland, believes that Scotland could benefit greatly from looking overseas for a new coach if Strachan departs.
Houghton was one of three men who the Football Association of Ireland approached to headhunt a new manager back in 2008 after their national team failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland.
Along with Don Givens, the Republic’s then under-21 manager, and Don Howe, the vastly-experienced English manager, he recommended that Ireland appoint the legendary Italian coach, Giovanni Trapattoni.
Trapattoni’s annual €1.2 million salary was half-funded by Denis O’Brien, the billionaire Irish businessman who is a minor shareholder in Scottish champions Celtic, throughout his five year tenure.
However, the former Juventus, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Italy manager ended the Republic’s 10 year absence from the finals of a major tournament when he secured a place at the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine.
And Houghton believes his adopted homeland, who qualified for the Euro 2016 finals this summer and made it through to the last 16 before being knocked out by hosts France, are continuing to reap the rewards of Trapattoni’s time in charge.
“Ireland had been finishing in third and fourth place in groups and hadn’t been qualifying for the finals of tournaments,” said Houghton. “We wanted to bring back a winning mentality. The players had lost that.
“We were probably in a better position than most international sides because there was a bit more funding there. We could afford to set our sights quite high.
“Don Howe, Don Givens and I were asked to identify who we thought was the best candidate and we put Trap’s name forward to the FAI.
“Trap had won the Champions League, he had managed in Italy, he had managed in Germany, he had won titles in four different countries (Italy, Germany, Portugal and Austria). He also had unfinished business with international football after his time in charge of Italy.
“Crucially, he had a winning mentality. We knew his favoured style of play. His teams were very pragmatic, they weren’t expansive. His philosophy was ‘if the team is winning 1-0 there is no need for a second goal’. The most important thing with him was not to concede. But we knew that having spoken to him.”
Houghton added: “We just missed out on qualification to the World Cup in 2010. We were very unlucky to be beaten by France in the play-offs (after the Thierry Henry handball controversy in the second leg in Paris in 2009). But we qualified for the European Championship finals in 2012 which was always the objective. His goal was to get us to a major tournament and he did that.
“We hadn’t qualified for a tournament since 2002 and it was important he ended that run. Trapp brought back a winning mentality. I think that is something that has continued since he has gone.
“Martin O’Neill has taken over and he got us to Euro 2016. But in the last two and a half years only one side has beaten us by more than one goal, Belgium defeated us 3-0 in the summer. We have become very hard to play against. I believe that comes from Trap’s time.”
Vogts, who won Euro ’96 with Germany, is the only foreigner to manager Scotland, but his two years in charge was littered with embarrassing defeats and ended in failure when his side failed to make it to the 2006 World Cup.
But Houghton added: “Every Ireland player I have spoken to who worked under Trap thoroughly enjoyed their time playing and working with him. Before he came they were missing out on tournaments, they weren’t even getting to play-offs.
“He was a different voice. He had a different way of looking at things. We knew what players are like. They look at what the manager has achieved. But nobody could look at Trap and question him given what he had done in the game.
“From what I heard, he was brilliant, absolutely fantastic. He was very professional. He knew the game. He knew exactly where he wanted to go. He didn’t undermine anyone. He had a very definite idea of how he wanted things done.
“He came from a different culture in Italy. Their preparation for games is far more intensive. Deitar Hamman once said he spent an hour and half working on a throw in with Trap when they were at Bayern Munich together. He was very definite about what he wanted.
“But I am sure Gordon and Scotland will be able to turn things around. They can still qualify. The good thing is that everyone is beating everyone in Scotland’s group.”
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