World Cup Footie

RANGERS captain Barry Ferguson admits he could not stomach another glorious failure so soon after his Hampden heartache with Scotland.

JOHN Collins remains firmly in the SFA's sights as a candidate for the vacant Scotland manager's job.

JOHN COLLINS today insisted he's had no contact from the SFA over the vacant Scotland manager's job.

SINCE the orgy of speculation began over who would succeed Alex McLeish as Scotland manager, one candidacy has grown in stature due to ongoing events in the game.

JOHN Collins has emerged as a challenger to Mark McGhee for the vacant post of Scotland manager.

HIS name appears at the top of most lists of favourites supplied by bookmakers and this weekend Alex McLeish backed the notion of Mark McGhee as the man to succeed him as Scotland manager.

THE Scottish Football Association remained tight-lipped on the search for a new Scotland manager yesterday as more contenders threw their hats in the ring, and others had their say on who they would like to see installed as Alex McLeish's successor.

SCOTLAND's joint top goalscorer of all time, Denis Law, insists a home-grown candidate must be appointed to succeed Alex McLeish as manager of the national side.

PERHAPS the least surprising aspect of the inevitable speculation over the identity of the next Scotland manager is the groundswell of support for Graeme Souness that seems to be gathering momentum almost on a daily basis.

IMPRESSIVE CVs have landed on the desk of Scottish Football Association chief executive Gordon Smith this week. One arrived from a man who had taken a team all the way to the World Cup quarter-finals.

FIVE months since accepting the highest administrative office in Scottish sport, Gordon Smith has felt every bump of the ride on football's rocky road.

GEORGE Peat, president of the SFA, has admitted that Alex McLeish's successor as Scotland manager will probably be subject to the same market forces that drew McLeish away to the Premier League after only ten months in charge.

SCOTTISH FA chief executive Gordon Smith insists he does not fear the difficult task of appointing a successor to Alex McLeish....

SFA chief executive Gordon Smith was surprised that Alex McLeish was lured away by Birmingham.

THE list of would-be Scotland managers has grown like a conga line since Alex McLeish quit the post barely 48 hours ago, but the whittling process and ultimate appointment of his successor is unlikely to be completed until some time in January.

ST ANDREW'S Day arrived two days' early for Alex McLeish yesterday as he sat at the Birmingham City stadium of that name and explained why he had swapped the Saltire for a survival struggle in England.

HIBS boss John Collins today insisted the SFA shouldn't shy away from naming a foreign manager as successor to Alex McLeish - provided he is fluent in English.

BILLY DAVIES has become the first of the likely candidates to confirm his interest in the Scotland job vacated by Alex McLeish.

THE abruptness with which Alex McLeish resigned the Scotland managership yesterday would be much more surprising than the fact of it.

FOR the national team, its attendant office-bearers and all those among the hoi polloi who care, 2007 will go down as a year of renaissance and recrimination.