SHAMBOLIC!

Regan faces tense grilling from SFA board after pursuit of O’Neill ends in humiliating failure and with no Plan B

STEWART REGAN will face a grilling from the SFA board next week as they demand answers over the failure to land Michael O’Neill as the new Scotland manager.

The Northern Ireland boss yesterday rejected the chance to succeed Gordon Strachan after discussions last week concluded in the offer of a four-year contract worth £650,000 a year.

Despite a high profile and protracted three-month pursuit, the SFA now find

themselves no further forward and with no Plan B after O’Neill issued a statement confirming he intends to stay in situ.

Sportsmail understands members of the ruling body’s seven-man and one woman board will question Regan at a scheduled meeting at Hampden next week.

Among the issues on the table will be the chief executive’s decision to publicly rule technical director Malky Mackay out of the running for the manager’s job just hours before he took temporary charge of the November friendly with Holland in Aberdeen, thereby closing the door on a potential solution.

There is also suspicion at a senior level that Regan’s public pursuit of his No 1 target served only to help O’Neill land a new and enhanced six-year £700,000a-year deal with the Irish FA.

Now under mounting pressure, Regan was in Switzerland last night for the annual business meeting of the International Football Association Board and will travel on to Lausanne for tomorrow’s draw for the UEFA Nations League where Scotland will learn their first qualification opponents in the quest to reach the Euro 2020 finals.

In the meantime, the SFA will now return to the drawing board in the search for a new manager. They claim other candidates were considered before the sub-committee of Regan, president Alan McRae, vice-president Rod Petrie and Partick Thistle managing director Ian Maxwell put O’Neill’s name at the top of the list.

And Hampden chiefs are now facing mounting criticism for their handling of the affair.

‘The true embarrassment of the whole situation is not so much Scotland’s, but Stewart Regan’s and others on this committee,’ said former Scotland striker Charlie Nicholas.

‘There is Mr Petrie, who I believe will become the next president after Alan McRae, who is there at the moment.

‘He is an accountant and they can’t even get the accountancy and the financial deals over the table.

‘It’s their embarrassment and may I say: “The doors are open, you can leave when you like”.’

Nicholas also took aim at Regan over his treatment of Mackay and the way Strachan was informed his contract would not be renewed.

‘This thing about Malky Mackay looking to the future with Project Brave? We don’t have a future if we don’t get the structure of the national manager right and we start at least threatening competitions,’ said Nicholas.

‘I get that we have to build up the youth again. But don’t embarrass people. He (Regan) actually embarrassed Malky Mackay before that last game at Aberdeen.

‘And I felt embarrassed about the way he got rid of Gordon Strachan, who is, after all, a Scottish legend as a footballer.

‘He treated him shamefully in my opinion. A phone call to the man? It just lacks class.’

O’Neill had earlier confirmed his decision in a short statement, saying: ‘Having given the matter a great deal of thought and consideration, I have decided not to take up the opportunity to become the next Scotland national team manager.

‘I would like to place on record my gratitude to the SFA for the very professional manner in which they conducted negotiations and I would also like to wish them every success for the future.’

Regan later responded with a statement of his own.

‘The Board of the Scottish FA appointed a sub-committee to oversee the recruitment process, compile a list of suitable candidates and ultimately make a recommendation,’ he said.

‘As part of that process, and in recognition of his work in taking Northern Ireland to UEFA Euro 2016, Michael O’Neill was identified as an obvious candidate for consideration.

‘To that end, we requested permission to speak to Michael from the Irish Football Association, which was accepted. Michael and his advisers met our delegation in Edinburgh on Thursday and discussed all aspects of the role during a three-hour meeting.

‘While this was a positive and cordial discussion, we respect Michael’s decision to remain loyal to Northern Ireland, with whom he has enjoyed great success.

‘We wish him well in his future endeavours and thank the Irish FA for their professionalism throughout. We now continue our recruitment process from the candidate list established by the selection committee, with a view to giving the new national coach ample time to prepare the squad for the UEFA Nations League.’