Gordon Strachan to remain as Scotland manager despite 'disappointing' results

Scotland manager Gordon Strachan (SNS Group / Alan Harvey)

GORDON STRACHAN will remain in charge of Scotland after the SFA announced that it has decided to “continue to support” the national team manager.

Strachan has presided over a poor start to the World Cup 2018 qualification campaign, which has left Scotland looking very unlikely to make it to the tournament in Russia.

Heavy defeats to Slovakia and England and a disappointing home draw against Lithuania left the manager’s position looking increasingly uncertain.

But the former Celtic boss has today received the backing of the SFA board after a review of the team’s performance so far.

Stewart Regan, SFA Chief Executive, said: “The Board have considered the team’s performance since the start of the campaign and subsequently discussed the disappointing points total after four matches.

“Gordon shared the disappointment of the Board and, of course, the fans. He is adamant, however, that we can recover the position and believes a play-off place still to be attainable.

“The Board are convinced that he still has the hunger for this challenge and we have four home qualifiers in 2017 to rejuvenate our campaign.

“We support Gordon unanimously in improving our qualification prospects.”

Strachan said: “We were all extremely disappointed with the result on Friday night but having reflected on our performance, I still believe we can get ourselves back into contention in the group.

“There are still 18 points to play for and the players, the staff and I, as in previous games, will give everything we have to turn things around.

“I have said consistently that our fans deserve success and a return to a major tournament finals.

“Although we have had a difficult start to the campaign, I firmly believe that this group of players, together with our supporters, can maximise our chances of a play-off place, starting with the home match against Slovenia in March.”