Say What You Mean

It was a contrite and regretful Gordon Smith that broke the news of George Burley's departure. Or was it? Interpreting for the cynical:

The decision was taken after a meeting with the board of directors and, subsequently, the national coach. The board was in unanimous agreement.

The rest of them agreed with my decision. I then met George and told him to "get tae."

It should be stressed the decision was not a direct consequence of Saturday’s unacceptable 3-0 defeat to Wales but, rather, a realisation that the expectations of the supporters, the Scottish FA and George, himself, were not being met.

My God, we were bad on Saturday. There’s nothing like being gubbed by the Welsh reserves to get us shaking in our blazers. Still I only got really worried when the fans started booing me.

On a personal note, I would like to thank George for his contribution and, on behalf of the Scottish FA, I wish him all the best for the future.

On a personal note, I’ve been a stunning failure in this role. Thank you, George, for providing everyone with an even bigger numpty by way of distraction.

I should point out that the Scottish FA stands by its decision to give the national coach our full support despite failure to qualify for the World Cup play-offs. It would have been negligent not to have given George every opportunity to rebuild and revitalise the squad in light of the improved performances in the last two qualifiers against Macedonia and Holland. Unfortunately, the adverse results in the two subsequent friendlies against Japan and Wales provided confirmation the improvement could not be sustained.

Keeping George was the cheaper option so we kept our fingers crossed and said our prayers. Speaking of prayers, it was a miracle he managed to find a team that could beat Macedonia. As George Peat said to me then "if there’s even a slight chance you’ve got a miracle worker on a contract, you don’t sack him." Sadly he turned out to be more Brian than Messiah.

We now have four months until our next scheduled match, against Czech Republic, and will therefore utilise the intervening period to ensure we attract the best possible replacement to take Scotland forward.

Anybody not currently in employment who is happy to work for free should get in touch.