I’VE NO REGRETS
Strachan defiant but pressure grows after ‘genetics’ excuse
GORDON STRACHAN insists he has no regrets over Scotland’s World Cup qualification campaign despite it ending in bitter disappointment.
The Scots boss is under growing pressure after Sunday’s 2-2 draw in Slovenia allowed Slovakia to snatch second place in Group F on goal difference, and cited poor Scottish ‘genetics’ as a reason for failure in the aftermath. That brought widespread criticism yesterday, with Strachan also under fire for reverting to under-achieving squad favourites in the crucial final two group games.
With the 60-year-old’s contract due to expire next month, the SFA now plan to hold discussions and resolve his future — one way or the other — by the end of next week.
Strachan (right) refused to discuss his position after his team had surrendered a half-time lead in Slovenia.
However, asked if he harboured any regrets over what he could have done differently, he insisted: ‘No — you can’t do that. You can’t do that.
‘What you have got to do is analyse and put all that information back. But say I did
something different, does that guarantee a win?
‘Whatever everyone else says doesn’t really matter.
‘I respect it but you can’t say if you had done something else, that would have been a winning team. ‘It might have been worse, it might have been a lot worse... ‘All you can do is analyse and look at where you could be stronger. What you can’t do is change the genetics of the country, I don’t think that’s legal.’
Claims Spain are the only nation with a smaller squad than a ‘genetically behind’ Scotland drew further ire from supporters who believe the blame for the manager’s second failed campaign lies closer to home.
Despite the late rally that took them to within 45 minutes of the play-offs, four points from a possible 12 in the opening four games — including a 1-1 home draw with also-rans Lithuania — gave the Scots a mountain to climb. Conceding the bad start contributed significantly to his side’s demise, Strachan said: ‘Yes, but you can look back at a couple of things. A 94th-minute equaliser for England.
‘There could be a lot of things but the players — when they look back — should regard it as a great experience because they know where they can go now. They know where they can push themselves to.’
Meanwhile, former Scotland striker Kris Boyd believes Strachan will now call time on his Scotland tenure.
The 34-year-old, who won 18 caps, feels the man who signed him for Middlesbrough seven years ago will feel he has taken the national team as far as he can in four-and-a-half years in charge.
‘I think he will leave of his own accord,’ said Boyd. ‘I think the SFA will want him to stay and they will appreciate the job he’s done. But I think Gordon won’t have forgotten about the criticism he received earlier on in the campaign.
‘I’d be very surprised if he gave it another shot.
‘I think he’s the right man for the job. You only need to see the way it’s been turned around.
‘A lot of people will say that at the start of the campaign he was a bit pig-headed and didn’t want to change things, but that’s the way Gordon has been throughout his career.
‘They will point to the fact he changed the formation on Sunday, but over his career as a manager he’s been a 4-4-2 man.
‘If he hadn’t started with two strikers in Slovenia in a game we needed to win to get into the play-offs, people would have been asking why.
‘You go back to the start of the campaign and people will ask why Leigh Griffiths wasn’t starting. But Leigh wasn’t in the form he’s in now back then.
‘The key thing for me is the defence. At the start of the campaign, the defensive unit wasn’t what it is now. We were losing goals — even in Malta.
‘A change was needed there. Gordon made that. He picked up a lot of points recently.
‘Sunday was such an anti-climax as I think everyone had the passport already looked out for the play-offs. It would still have been a tough ask but it would have given the fans reason to be optimistic.’