Strachan expected to go if Scotland miss out on finals again

Former Scotland defender Steven Pressley admits he would expect Gordon Strachan to walk away as manager if the national team fail to reach the 2018 World Cup finals.

Strachan is already under pressure heading into Sunday’s ‘must-win’ visit of Slovenia, with the team sitting second bottom in qualifying Group F with only four points from four games.

Former Falkirk and Coventry City manager Pressley now does scouting work for Strachan having played under him at Celtic as a player.

And Pressley believes it is inevitable that the 60-year-old will relinquish the reins if Scotland fail to make it to Russia.

He said: “I do think he is the right man to be national manager but the question is, will he remain in the job if we go crashing out?

“I think Gordon’s at a stage of his career where he probably doesn’t need the aggro that goes with that position.

“Of course I think he’s the man for the job, do I think he’ll remain in charge if we fail in this competition? Probably not.”

Pressley, meanwhile, insists being short of top-quality strikers and central defenders is hampering Strachan’s attempts to lead Scotland to a major finals for the final time since 1998.

He added: “The squad actually has some very good quality within it. We have several high quality left-backs, we have an abundance of central midfield players, who are actually playing at a high level.

“The two key areas where there have not been a great wealth of talent are strikers and central defenders, and those are two key areas in any successful team.

“If you look back at the performance against England, between the two 18-yard boxes it was a very good performance from Scotland, tactically Gordon got it spot on.

“I thought we played to a really high level but in the two boxes they had the superior players and it’s been a problem for many years now.”

Steven Pressley: good quality in squad.