Scotland - The Tartan Army will keep on marching!

Scottish born manager, Gordon Strachan has handed in his resignation as manager of the Scottish National Football Team.

The Scottish FA released a statement put forward by Strachan to the public,

“My stay here hasn’t been long by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve only managed the team for one game but for the whole game I didn’t feel like the job was for me. I’ve been at a lot of different clubs and all of them had this sort of aura, a feeling that I was in the right place. I just want thank the fans, players and even the staff for helping me settle in here. I’m sorry it had to end so quickly!”

Strachan stated that he didn’t think he was the right man to take Scotland forward. The former Celtic manager took over in January this year and managed the team for only one game, beating Serbia 1-0. The match was close with the deadlock being broken on the 51st minute, following a well-placed free-kick taken by midfielder, Shaun Maloney.

The news has come as a shock to Scottish fans all around the country as Strachan said in a post-match interview after the Serbia game that he was planning on helping Scotland become a ‘force to be reckoned with.’ Scotland at the time were pretty much out of the running to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and not much has changed in the 4 months since that match took place in Belgrade.

Strachan played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. He has managed Coventry City, Southampton, Celtic and Middlesbrough. In club football, he played 635 league games, scoring a total of 138 goals, playing 21 of 25 career seasons in either the English or Scottish top-flight. In international football Strachan earned 50 caps, scoring five goals and playing in two FIFA World Cup final tournaments, Spain 82 and Mexico 86. Strachan retired from playing in 1997 at age 40, setting a Premier League record for an outfield player.

Strachan was named as FWA Footballer of the Year for the 1990–91 season while at Leeds. He was also named Manager of the Year in Scotland multiple times by writers and players while at Celtic. In 2007, Strachan was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame. He is the father of Craig Strachan and Gavin Strachan, also footballers.

Former Liverpool manager, Kenny Daglish is odds on favourite to take the job but other possibilities include QPR coach, Joe Jordan and former Nottingham Forest manager, Alex McLeish. The idea of Sir Alex Ferguson coming out of retirement to manage Scotland is being thrown around but that is a little less likely. Ferguson retired at the end of the 2012/13 season, finishing a distinguished 26 year career in the hot seat of Manchester United.

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OFF-TOPIC: This may not seem like it has anything to do with the story but believe me, it will!

Good start Tyler and good luck

Ferguson was linked to the job when a photo of him meeting up with Chief Executive of the Scottish FA, Stewart Regan, was leaked onto football websites. No sign of contract negotiations were present but many viewers still jumped to the conclusion that he was taking the Scotland job.

The Scot retired at the end of the 2012/13 season after a massive 26 years in charge of one of the biggest clubs in the world, Manchester United. He won an astounding 38 trophies during his time at the club, including 13 premier league titles. He ended his career on a high however, winning the Barclays Premier League over rivals, Manchester City by 11 points

Scotland isn’t the only job that Ferguson has been linked to after retirement. Due to many people criticizing the decision to name David Moyes as manager, some mad fans started rumours that the 72 year-old was going to return to Manchester United just 2 months after his retirement.

Ferguson himself put an end to all the speculation when he released a statement to the public,

“I’ve heard many rumours of me returning to management and I just want to put an end to it all! There is no way that I will ever be returning to management. I retired for a reason and it would be very stupid on my part to come back. The stress of managing a football team is massive and at my age it’s very hard to deal with.”

“I realise that United may hit some bumps along the way this season but no matter what happens I will not be returning as manager. In all fairness I am still at United but I will never be their manager again.”

“As for the Scotland job, it’s a job that would interest me if I wasn’t retired. Sometimes football at an international level can be even more stressful than club football and it would again, be stupid on my part to take the job. It’s true, I did meet up with the Scottish FA but it was not about the vacancy.”