Novi Sad humbling nearly stopped Strachan in his tracks

SCOTLAND’S last visit to Serbia almost forced a managerial resignation.

After just his second competitive game in charge, Gordon Strachan felt sufficiently discouraged by a 2-0 defeat in Novi Sad that he considered quitting.

A breakfast-table summit with assistant Mark McGhee (right) after the squad’s return to Scotland convinced him the job was worth seeing through.

‘We got back to Mar Hall after the game and by the next morning me and Gordon were basically the only two left,’ recalls McGhee. ‘We had breakfast the next morning and I swear to God, the wee man was talking about chucking it. He was saying the job was 10 times worse than he thought it would be!

‘But we still had people to come back, others we knew would come in and strengthen the squad. So we had that conversation and we also spoke about the way Serbia played.

They were just so much more sophisticated than us. They had a system that involved lateral movement, not just up and down the park, there was a lot of interchange between the wide players the full-backs and midfielders. ‘It was a lot more complex than what we were doing, which was basically up and down the park in straight lines.

‘So we knew we had to find a way of playing that gave teams much more of a problem. And we did.

‘We found other ways, a more complex style than the straightforward 4-4-1-1 that we adopted.’

The game, a qualifier for the already doomed bid to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, commenced after supporters helped shovel snow off the pitch and ended in a 2-0 defeat.

‘The highlight was probably Liam Bridcutt coming in for his debut in midfield,’ adds McGhee. ‘He had a great game.

‘But the weather was diabolical, the conditions, the dressing rooms were pretty basic. It wasn’t a great experience all round.

‘So we were miserable — and the wee man wanted to chuck it!’