No-one who heard Vern Cotter state yesterday that he plans to remain at Clermont Auvergne for another season seemed to be rushing to a bookmaker to bet on it.

The 51-year-old New Zealander, unveiled as Scotland's next head coach yesterday, seems almost certain to be allowed to leave Clermont Auvergne within days given the nature of the response to what has been interpreted as an attack on the club in their local press.

"My intention is to stay [at Clermont]," he asserted. "I need to get a little bit more information. Even in the article in today's paper I said I was looking forward to another year. Losing the Heineken [Cup final] by one point was obviously disappointing but you just need to see how things develop."

The French club's management will hold a meeting on Monday to discuss Cotter's position, and, should they deem him surplus to requirements, that can only be a good thing from the Scottish Rugby Union's perspective if, as they believe, they have found the right man.

However, the nature of the criticism Cotter has levelled at his current employers is relevant in another way because it focused principally on what he essentially described as an absence of star quality in crucial positions.

In seeking to clarify his position, he told the Scottish media: "I said the club needed to invest like other clubs, in the same way that Toulon and Racing were investing in that they had marquee players.

"There are no marquee players at Clermont. I'll be honest with you, all the players are based on tiers of their ability. If you look at bringing a Matt Giteau, a Jonny Wilkinson or a Jonny Sexton, Clermont haven't gone down that road."

Leading lights of French rugby Wesley Fofana, Morgan Parra, Aurelien Rougerie and Julien Bonnaire, not to mention the former All Black Sitiveni Sivivatu, all of whom were widely considered, just a few weeks ago, to form part of a near irresistible force in European rugby, may be surprised by that assessment. However, what is clear is that Cotter, who is set to take over a squad that produced just three players deemed worthy of touring with the British & Irish Lions – two of them back-three players – feels his attempts to win major silverware has been hampered by an absence of global superstars, a commodity not currently in abundance in the Scottish game.

Cotter sought – along with Mark Dodson, the SRU's chief executive, and Scott Johnson, their newly appointed director of rugby who will be Cotter's boss except on the training pitch, where he will be his assistant coach – to put the best possible complexion on things.

Praise for the way Dodson and Moir Lockheed, the SRU's chairman, had conducted negotiations – for all that they seem to be on-going – preceded a declaration of how impressed Cotter is with the work Johnson is doing.

"There has been a plan put in place with Jonno that we can discuss moving forward during that period. Jonno will have windows where he can come and see me in Clermont and I'm really happy with what Jonno's put in place so it will be a matter of just staying in touch," he explained.

"Jonno's got the team playing really well, preparing really well. It's just a matter of staying in contact. It's really just about communication and preparing for the 2015 World Cup. We have a philosophy on how the team should be playing and of course that will develop, so I'm really happy with what they're doing."

Regarding his own motivation, he was glowing in his analysis of the Scottish game past and present.

"It's a great opportunity," he said. We're still all kids really but when I was a kid I used to love the way Scotland played, the loose forwards especially. Those impressions stay with you and to to be part of that organisation building toward a World Cup with the people we've got here, it's very hard to say no.

"It's an exciting group, you only have to look at what Glasgow have done this year, young players coming through, some good old experienced players. You can feel a real passion and I think rugby's thriving in Scotland at the moment.

"I've had contact, coached Jason White and Nathan Hines [both at Clermont] and they were a big part in making the decision. There's good talent and good people."

That what had been described as a "global search" for the three major posts recently filled by the SRU had resulted in three appointments of men who share the same management agency, forward coach Jonathan Humphreys being the other, was addressed by Dodson.

"You look at world rugby and you look at the number of agencies that are around and there are very few who handle the top talent and you come across these people in the same agencies, it's pure coincidence," he said.

"If you look in Scotland, the majority of players are handled by two ex-internationals, Rowan Shepherd and Shaun Longstaff. It's just a fact of business. We don't control the agencies, we do business with the people we need to do business with. We brought these guys together simply because they're the best people."