Burley goes...

He's staying, then he's going, then he's... nah he's gone.

We're all now agreed that Burley was shite as Scotland gaffer. He may have been unlucky, but his plan to add more attacking flair to the rigid platform built by Smith and McLeish failed, and his man-management was as bad as his media performances. Good-bye.

Who's next? The BBC has dutifully covered the early candidates (watch this spectacularly amateurish video, where poor Craig Brown tries to finish his latte while assessing the options, and then offers himself for any work going).

Fuck Walter Smith.

Jimmy Calderwood would be "honoured" to get the job, and we like Jimmy. But his cup record with Aberdeen was woeful, so that rules him out.

Craig Levein looks too embedded with Dundee Utd to move, and anyway he's too spiky for the SFA.

Jim Jefferies is "flattered" by the link, and he's a viable candidate. A grumpy candidate, but viable.

John Collins would be a good choice, if his media savvy was as sharp as his tactical brain, and he would commit Scotland to at least trying to pass the ball. But mud still sticks from his fall-outs with players and directors at Hibs.

Billy Stark from the u21s? Low media profile, knows the set-up, it's a promotion that's worked in the past.

Gary McAllister? Poor coaching record so far, but surely he's going to prove himself as a manager somewhere?

There's no obvious choice, because it's not a hugely inspiring list so far. At least Graeme Souness has ruled himself out.

Burley stays on

So, after leading us up the hill, Gordon Smith and George Peat take us back down again with the same man in charge, having assured us that the summit was very professional and all that.

It's hard to work out if the Scottish Football Association is naive, indecisive, or stupid - or a mixture of all three. By announcing a "review" of George Burley's position (despite the fact his contract still had two years to run) before the recent do-or-die qualifiers, the inference was clear - failure to reach the play-offs would result in his removal from the post.

Yet, apparently satisfied by the performances against Macedonia and the Netherlands, they've decided to leave George Burley in charge. He wants the job, which is at least something, and it appears that his recent comments about a lack of support from the SFA have been heeded - though whether they will result in any change for the better is a moot point.

At least the Rangers Rebels have not got their way... and Bazza, Boyd and the rest can reflect at their leisure on their inability to put the country ahead of their own egos.

Knowing Burley's luck, we'll get a terrifying qualifying group for the European Championships, and any faint glimmer of hope will be extinguished by more baffling team selections and subsitutions. We can't be going into the next campaign with a huge amount of hope.

Still, good luck Scotland. One of these days, we might actually qualify for a major tournament, despite ourselves. Even better, we might finally address the underlying problems in our game that seem to hold the Scotland team back.

Mon Scotland!

August is the wrong time to be playing crucial World Cup qualifying matches, as George Burley knows. Still, now's not the time to discuss how we got into this - instead, all the focus needs to be on beating Norway this afternoon.

Scotland seem to have enough up front to cause Norway problems, and surely between Ross McCormack, James McFadden, even Kenny Miller or Steven Fletcher, we can get a goal. The real test will be at the back: if the Caldwell brothers play together as expected, let's hope they use some brotherly understanding to form a tight grip on the game, especially if Alan Hutton and Steven Whittaker are the two full backs.

They are both decent footballers, but they are not the most defensively-minded.

Now it's Burley's turn to fulfil the promise

According to the BBC and everyone else, the Scottish Football Association will announce tomorrow morning that George Burley is the new manager. They've taken their time over the appointment, and they've made a good decision.

Burley electrified Scottish football in 2005 when he put took charge at Hearts, put together a new team very quickly, and took the club on an unbeaten run to the top of the SPL, before being sacked by Vladimir Romanov for his impudence.

But he's got more than that to his bow... he's been doing a decent job with limited resources at Southampton, and previously took Ipswich into Europe. Of course, he also got Ipswich relegated too, but he's hardly the first coach to suffer from 2nd Season Syndrome at a club that's been recently promoted.

He's a tracksuit manager, keen to get involved in training sessions, and is used to working with relatively unheralded players and getting them to perform. His man-management and motivational skills will be needed if Scotland are going to build on their progress over the past few years. The squad is improving all the time, but still needs careful attention.

The timing's as good as it gets for an international coach, though... he'll have the home nation championship to practise in before the World Cup qualifying starts in the autumn.

The only other serious option was Mark McGhee, but given what's happened at Motherwell this season it's no shame for him to stay where he is and put his energies into that job.

Good luck to Burley and Scotland. He's the right choice.

Smith finally confirmed at Rangers, as Scotland lick their wounds

No surprises, then.

After a week of speculation, Walter Smith finally announced himself at a press conference, dressed in the club suit and tie of Rangers, confirming what everyone already knew - that he was the man to try and rescue the club from the indignities of this season and rebuild its reputation. Meanwhile, across Glasgow, the Scottish Football Association instigated legal proceedings against their former employee and the club.

The extraordinary truth is that Rangers and the SFA have still not agreed a compensation package for Smith, who had 18 months to run on his contract, and yet the announcement went ahead anyhow. As a statement of intent, it is a brutal one: when asked about the situation, the Rangers chairman, David Murray, simply said that the amount of compensation requested by the SFA was "unrealistic". Although he expressed hope that the issue can be resolved amicably, he was unapologetic about putting the needs of Rangers above anything else.

But beyond the level of compensation, there is another issue at stake. Smith quite clearly started working for Rangers before resigning from his position as Scotland coach - meaning not only that Rangers tapped him up, but that Smith was then in breach of contract. His new first-team coach, Kenny McDowall, gave the game away first, before Ally McCoist confirmed as much. "There was no hesitation at all, as soon as the manager asked me to come back I agreed", he said, when unveiled as assistant manager on Tuesday. So Smith was already working as the Rangers manager, when the SFA had refused permission for the club to speak to him. The SFA have described these relevations as "interesting". You bet they have.

It is likely that a compromise will be reached before the matter reaches the courts - frankly, the SFA can barely afford an expensive legal battle, and they could do without the distraction when their main priority is finding a new coach. Furthermore, while there is the possibility of further sanctions, it is unlikely the SFA has the appetite for the fight. Docking points or banning them from European competition would be bold assertions of authority, but realpolitik will intervene to ensure that the SFA does nothing that damages the interests of one of its biggest members, thus effectively sweeping the affair under the carpet. This will suit the short term interests of the parties involved, but a precedent has been set that chips away at the basis of the professional game.

What, for example, is now to stop a similar situation occuring between clubs, where a manager simply swaps employers by walking out on one contract and signing another? And while it might seem fanciful to suggest the same could happen with players, with individual registrations still controlled by national associations and FIFA, this seems to be the way the game is headed, with the rules bent to suit the needs of the bigger clubs. Perhaps Rangers will hold a press conference tomorrow to announce the signing of Scott Brown - and when Hibs complain that he is still their player, simply dismiss the quoted transfer fee as "unrealistic". Contracts are surely designed to allow all parties, regardless of their relative wealth, status or power, equal treatment, but they are becoming increasingly easy to circumvent.

Smith, meanwhile, after a cordial but hardly contrite performance at yesterday's press conference, clearly feels that criticism of his move has been unjust, and has tried to pin the responsibility on the SFA, saying that the risk of getting sacked in November if Scotland failed to qualify for Euro 2008 was a key factor in his decision. Apparently, his old bosses had not pushed him hard enough to sign a contract extension, even though - by his own admission - he had told them he was in no hurry to agree a new deal. He also has expressed surprise that the SFA are not showing him more gratitude for turning around Scotland's fortunes. None of which changes the fact that he has walked out on a clear commitment.

Still, what's done is done, and the Smith/McCoist double act, honed over the past 2 years, now faces a new challenge. It is not hard to see the reasons for success at international level, because their personalities do seem complementary. Smith is like your dour uncle - interested in what you've been doing, but you need to be on your best behaviour at all times. McCoist, meanwhile, is the mischevious older cousin, who's a bit naughty, but always fun. It just remains to be seen how it translates to the daily routine of club management, rather than the intermittment nature of the international set-up. McCoist has spoken about this being his dream start in management, but - at the age of 44 - he's not exactly a quick starter. Most of his contemporaries who went into coaching have around a decade's experience by now. Smith, meanwhile, is 58, and taking on a stressful and all-consuming job. Experience is great, of course, but the job will also require large reserves of energy.

Meanwhile, the search is on for a new Scotland manager. The SFA have indicated they will go for a home-grown appointment again, and such is the shortage of available talent that Graeme Souness has been spoken about in some circles as a front runner. If that's the case, Scotland really are in trouble.