PAUL DICKOV, the former Scotland striker, believes the Scottish Football Association shouldn’t go down the road of appointing another foreign manager. Dickov, who won seven of his 10 caps under the German Berti Vogts, wants a Scot to get the job if Gordon Strachan leaves his post. The former Manchester City forward is friends with Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill - who has been widely touted as a possible successor to Strachan - but Dickov doesn’t think that would be the right move.
“Personally I wouldn’t like to see [a foreign manager], no,” he said after helping make the draw for the semi-finals of the Irn-Bru Cup. “I’m a big believer that the national team manager has to come from that country. I know Michael well and he will be buzzing at the job he is doing right now. But if it came down to it I would like to see a Scottish manager getting the Scotland job. But who will want to take it? And who are we going to get that can progress and take us further? There’s so much scrutiny on the managers of Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales that it’s a very difficult job.”
Dickov was at Wembley to witness Scotland’s 3-0 loss to England on Friday night but felt that Strachan should be given more time to turn things around.
“I was at the game and you can call me daft, stupid or both but I thought Scotland did alright,” he added. “I’m based in England now and the general consensus, even from England fans, was that up until the second goal Scotland were in the game.
“I know there is a lot of pressure on Gordon at this minute and there is a big clamour for him to go. But I look at Northern Ireland and Wales and maybe a big factor in why they are doing so well is Michael had a horrendous start and couldn’t buy a win for a long, long time but the Northern Ireland FA stood by him, even though there was a huge clamour for him to get sacked.
“Chris Coleman went four games without winning and it was the same thing. There was a huge clamour in the media and by the fans to get sacked but the Welsh FA stuck by him.
“And I believe that continuity is one of the reasons why those two countries are doing well. I know Wales have got Gareth Bale who is world class and Aaron Ramsey who is a top class player, but that continuity of keeping the management staff together is a big reason why they’ve done so well.
“People talk about formations, philosophies and the like but it’s all about winning games. We’ve still got four home games coming up and things can change so quickly. A couple of results and everyone is back onside again. I just think it’s so important that in the next game we just win it by hook or by crook.”
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