Position hangs in the balance

been bullied at school or something. It’s not right and that’s the way I am feeling with these lads just now.

“I’m not feeling as bad as I have done, strangely. I’ve seen a lot of things, even the Slovakia game.

“But out there, they were brave, they didn’t sit in, they made chances.

“There were some terrific performances.

“I remember losing 2-0 at Wembley (in 1983) and we were sneaking out the door, literally, because it was woeful, inept, no shots at goal. “This time was different.” Different, yet from a supporter’s perspective, all too familiar.

England weren’t obviously better in open play on Friday.

“But a team that concedes cheap goals with the regularity Scotland do is always going to struggle,” said Strachan.

“For though it was heartening to see several decent chances created, they weren’t put away.

“The first one you can’t really prepare for when you get a deflection like that.

“There’s a point where you have to hold your hands up and say: ‘OK’,” argued Strachan.

“Anything they came up with, we dealt with.

“The shot and deflection and then it coming back in quick is disorientating, and then what you get is world-class players going and putting headers in the back of the net, where we’ve had headers that go over the bar.

“It’s easy for me sitting there. Imagine being out there when that’s happening and having to go again.”

The key question remains, will the manager himself choose to stick or twist?

“What I’ve got to do now is go and see my family, make sure they are all right, because they feel for me,” he said.

“Then there will be a debrief with the people I work with and that will happen whenever we want a chat.

“The speculation about my future? I don’t see all those things. I have an understanding of what’s going on. I’m not daft.

“I’ve never seen telly this week or a paper. It’s like being in a crash, you don’t look at the crash.

“The reality is all-consuming.”