Former Scotland internationals Charlie Nicholas and Davie Provan have tried to take the heat off sacked national boss George Burley by saying the country’s current football woes stem from board and grassroots level.
Burley had his contract cancelled on Monday after a 22-month spell in charge which brought three wins from 18 games. Defeat in Cardiff against Wales on Saturday was the deciding factor for the Scottish Football Association, who cited a lack of “improvement” as a reason for Burley’s dismissal.
A failed shot at qualification for the 2010 World Cup is Burley’s legacy but Nicholas feels that the campaign was doomed to fail from day one because of poor fixture planning by the SFA.
"It's just been an absolute mess from day one; playing in Macedonia in the heat and hardly going there before; the SFA arranged the game against Norway away before we actually had a league game and got stuffed 4-0,” said Nicholas.
"George can hold his hands up and say I take some responsibility and it didn't look good in the end but the SFA have looked none too clever in the process either."
Nicholas though agreed that the decision to sack Burley was the best decision made by the governing body in recent years, but sympathised with the problems the former Ipswich boss encountered.
"As much as George probably deserved to go because the last two games have been an absolute embarrassment, I feel for him because he is an honest guy,” he said.
"I think he had the right ideas but to lose players like McCulloch, Boyd, McGregor, Ferguson, the way that happened it wasn't always his fault.”
Provan went beyond blaming the SFA at board level, saying that the current state of the national team is traceable to grassroots level, saying that “third world facilities” for young footballers were to blame.
He added: “If you look at the Republic of Ireland, who have a similar quality of player to Scotland, then I do believe Scotland should be doing better, and I'm sure that was part of the reason Gordon Smith and the board made that decision [to sack George Burley].”
Provan meanwhile backed former Rangers boss Graeme Souness and current Ibrox manager Walter Smith as possible successors.
"Graeme is the type who would walk into that dressing room and put 30,000 volts right throught it," Provan said.
“The players would have huge respect for him and he could do the job.
"I was saddened to hear him rule himself out but if I was Gordon Smith I would still go to Graeme Souness and put a package to him."
Provan added: "If something could be worked out where Walter Smith can do this job and the Rangers job at the same time, I would certainly be in favour of that.
"Because you only have to look at the way Walter Smith reorganised the Scotland side after the Berti Vogts era. I think Walter Smith would be a terrific choice."
Last updated: 16 November 2009, 22:14
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