THE career of any public figure is usually condensed into the one or two moments that, for whatever reason, stick longest in the memory.

Regardless of what Craig Levein goes on to achieve in management he will forever be remembered for a dismal night in Prague and an ongoing spat with one of his star strikers. Neither incident directly cost him his job as Scotland manager but they will ultimately form the bulk of his legacy, whether he likes it or not.

The away defeat by the Czech Republic will always be brought up as one of the defining episodes of Levein's three-year tenure. He will forever argue that he picked the right team and formation for the occasion – and would have looked a tactical genius if his players had somehow procured a victory or even a draw – but a loss suffered by a side with no centre-forward meant it was open season on him. He limped on for two more years but the Tartan Army never really viewed him with any great warmth after that.

The fall out with Steven Fletcher may also come to be an eternal source of regret. Levein could argue he was right to stick to his guns once the striker intimated he no longer wished to be considered for selection but the perception grew of a stubborn manager putting his personal feelings ahead of the country's needs. Again, Levein may ponder whether the outcry for Fletcher's reinstatement would have been so ferocious if the player had not been scoring so frequently in the Barclays Premier League, but all anyone saw was an in-form striker and an international manager not willing to select him when the country was desperate for goals. Levein, belatedly, did recall Fletcher but it arrived too late to salvage Scotland's chances of reaching the World Cup in Brazil.

Whether the player would have made any difference in the first two qualifying games against Serbia or Macedonia will never be known but Fletcher's extended absence from the side became another metaphorical stick with which to beat the manager about the head. There was further ammunition for those keen to see him removed from office; a record of just three wins in 12 competitive matches, the Kris Commons debacle – when a player deemed surplus to requirements was then pitched straight into the team – needing a 97th-minute winner to beat Liechtenstein at Hampden, the 5-1 friendly defeat by the USA, as well as Levein's insistence that all the while he and the squad were making progress when none was evident. You could say he was a dreamer, but he was the only one.

In looking back over his regime, it is difficult to pick out any real, significant highlight. There was a stirring second-half display at Hampden against Spain but it was a match that still ended in defeat. Then there was the promise of a new beginning when the likes of Barry Bannan, Danny Wilson, Craig Bryson and James McArthur were given debuts in a comprehensive defeat of the Faroes at Pittodrie. Like so much of Levein's regime, however, it would prove something of a false dawn; none of the aforementioned quartet have gone to become established figures in the side.

Levein, like many managers, could feel he did not get a rub of the green and, granted, key decisions have gone against him in big matches. A late dive for a penalty denied Scotland a home win against the Czechs that would have greatly enhanced their chances of reaching the play-offs for Euro 2012, while another dive – combined with the decision to rule out a Fletcher goal – also did for Levein and Scotland in Wales. Luck, however, as the cliche goes, tends to even itself out over time. The Czechs should have been given an earlier penalty in the same game, while the move for the Fletcher 'goal' that wasn't in Cardiff began from an offside position. Scotland also required seven minutes of injury time to end Liechtenstein's plucky resistance in Glasgow.

It is to Levein's credit, and perhaps a sign of his professionalism and dedication, that the Scotland players continued to back their beleaguered manager until the bitter end. Levein, though, might wonder whether he would have been better served by them showing their appreciation through deed rather than word.

It was not just the manager who felt that this was possibly one of the best Scotland squads of recent times, with more players featuring in the Barclays Premier League than at any other time. Those players' club form, however, rarely carried into the international arena with under-par performances leading to poor results.

Levein, however, could bemoan the fact that he lacked a talismanic figure to lead his team given the long-term absence of Darren Fletcher to illness. While the other countries in Scotland's World Cup qualifying group can boast at least one world-class player – Gareth Bale for Wales and Goran Pandev for Macedonia, for example – there was no such shining light in dark blue. These are all aspects for Levein to reflect on in the months to come, all the while still drawing his generous SFA salary. He may feel hard done to at being ousted but the most damning fact is this: anyone drawing up reasons to keep him would not have had much of a list.