With George Burley, as expected, relieved of his duties last night, thoughts turn to finding a successor but with no clear candidate where do the SFA go next?

One idea is to learn from the experiences of the Republic of Ireland and the process by which they secured Giovanni Trapattoni.

Like Scotland, the Irish had experienced a fallow period in which managers came and went and the side gradually slipped down the world rankings. Like Scotland, the Irish had a crop of players who were not as talented as they had been in the years before. And, like Scotland, the Irish had not qualified for the finals of a tournament in some time.

Drastic action was required to arrest the worrying decline and the FAI board took it by appointing a three-man committee comprising Don Givens, the national under-21 coach, Don Howe, the former Arsenal manager and Ray Houghton, the feted Republic of Ireland midfielder, who were tasked with identifying the correct candidate, no matter how long it took. More than three months were spent researching and interviewing coaches, with the FAI criticised for their perceived procrastination in appointing a successor to Steve Staunton but, with no competitive fixtures for several months, Givens, Howe and Houghton had a mandate to be thorough.

And it appears they have been vindicated, as former AC Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Italy coach Trapattoni has, at the age of 70, transformed the fortunes of the side, leading them through an undefeated World Cup qualifying campaign, a run that included home and away draws against Italy.

Ultimately, it seems unlikely Ireland will reach South Africa, given that a 1-0 defeat to France at Croke Park in a play-off on Saturday means they need to win in Paris tomorrow evening but, despite that, Givens believes that the journey has offered more than enough proof to justify their strategy.

“John Delaney, the chief executive of the FAI, and the FAI board of management decided to get football men involved,” Givens recalled. “We were given criteria which had to be met. For example, he had to have experience of international management.

“Then we went away, looked at the best managers out there who fitted the bill and would be interested in the job, put feelers out then conducted interviews. It took a bit longer than we had anticipated or hoped and we did start to get criticised for it but we felt it was worth taking the time to get the right man. There was no point in rushing the process. It was our names, after all, which were going to be associated with the selection. We managed to get a world-class manager like Giovanni Trapattoni in the end so it was certainly worth the wait.”

The importance of having football men on the panel went further than their expertise, though. Givens, while coaching Neuchatel Xamax in Switzerland, had faced a Juventus side trained by Trapattoni and used that connection to arrange a meeting with the then coach of Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg. Further research followed in the shape of a call to Liam Brady, the former Ireland captain who had played under the Italian in Turin before the two finally talked terms.

“He has been very good 
for us,” said Givens. “We have some decent players, but they are by no means the best we have had in the last 20 years. For him to come in and get us to the play-offs was a fantastic achievement for the manager. And we aren’t out of it yet.”

Scotland do not have a competitive fixture until their first Euro 2012 qualifier next September, which would give the SFA all the time they need to muster their selectors then give them licence to complete their task. The committee’s composition would, undoubtedly, generate the usual weary claim and counter claim but even the most cynical and one-eyed would find it difficult to argue with the inclusion of men like Graeme Souness, Kenny Dalglish or George Graham.

Givens, who is in Albania this week with the Republic of Ireland under-21s, insists any panel should keep an open mind and not allow their judgment to be coloured by the turbulent tenure of Berti Vogts, the last non-Scottish coach to be appointed to the role.

“Giovanni has been a great coach for Ireland,” Givens said. “He is charismatic, has the respect of the players and is totally organised as well. He has been criticised for the football we have played being too defensive, but I think he has done the very best with the players he has.”

The burden of Trapattoni’s hefty salary is shared by the FAI and Dennis O’Brien, the billionaire businessman and Celtic director, and similar demands would be prohibitive to the SFA. However, as the Irish will testify, if they took such a gamble they could end up hitting the jackpot.