Craig Levein says he’s more concerned with the challenge of taking Scotland to a major tournament than trying to win a personality contest with supporters.
The national boss takes the Scots into the 2014 World Cup qualifiers with a section of the Tartan Army fully against the former Hearts and Dundee United manager’s philosophy, stemming back to the decision to play with no strikers in a Euro 2012 preliminary match against Czech Republic.
Having learned the lessons of the failed campaign, Levein insists he has grown as an international coach and is confident he has what it takes to take his team to Rio.
“I very quickly discovered in this job that other people know much more than me,” he said. “There are so many people out there who can do the job better than I can.
“What I know is nobody wants the best for Scotland more than me. I don't need people to like me. I need people to understand that I am doing everything possible to get Scotland to the World Cup finals. That's the first part.
“The second part, as I said previously, I am more than happy with the quality of players I've got available.
“You don't get an apprenticeship in this game. You get thrown in and you have to deal with it. I've learned an awful lot in the last couple of years. I am a much better international manager than I was two years ago.
“I want everyone to know that I took this job desperately wanting to be the manager who took Scotland to a World Cup. That's why I took the job.
“There's nobody who will try harder or do more to get us there than me.
“The players are in a position as well where none of them have been to a World Cup. They are desperate.
“We are all in a place where want one thing and one thing only and that is to qualify.
“There's a whole raft of things I've changed myself that I didn't do at the start. But it's only because you learn as you go along.
“I stress that I am ready to go, the players are ready to go and we face a tough challenge. I'm not going to make wild predictions but I'm comfortable and I'm happy where we are.”
Saturday’s opponents Serbia arrived in Scotland on Thursday night, with defender Branislav Ivanovic criticising the style of play adopted by Levein’s side.
The manager refused to rise to the remarks, saying only: “My father, who passed a long time ago, gave me a lot of important bits of advice.
“He told me: 'When in conflict, don't tell anyone what you are going to do'.”
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