McGhee has 2020 vision as he plots a salvage bid

MARK McGHEE insists he was always eyeing a crack at Euro 2020 as opposed to the sack from the SFA. The future of Gordon Strachan and his backroom staff was the subject of intense speculation following the 3-0 loss to England last Friday, which left the national team second bottom of Group F with just four points from four games.

But the Motherwell manager, who doubles as Strachan’s international assistant, is hopeful the green light given by the ruling body’s board yesterday will signal a continuity that extends beyond the current campaign.

Asked if he and Strachan would like to remain in charge for Euro 2020, McGhee replied: ‘I would, I can’t speak for Gordon.

‘What I saw in the performance for an hour at Wembley said that we’re getting the best we can out of the players.

‘If in that time we improve a little bit — we’ve got Oliver Burke and other young players coming on — and we get a draw that gives us a chance, then why would we not want to be part of that?

‘So yeah, absolutely. But I also live with the knowledge that the world today wants change. But we’ll carry on until someone takes the keys off us.’

For the time being, Strachan, McGhee (above) and Andy Watson remain tasked with somehow rediscovering the path to Russia 2018.

With Slovenia and England the next visitors to Hampden, Scotland’s interest in qualification is very much on the line.

Yet even if all hope of finishing runners-up is completely lost, McGhee does not expect the SFA to revisit the decision they made yesterday. ‘No. I wouldn’t expect it,’ he insisted. ‘If we go out and play against all these other teams as well as we played for that hour against England, we can still get beat. ‘If people look at it objectively and see that the players are doing their best and working, but we fall short because of a bit of bad luck or because we’re simply not good enough, then I think you are entitled to say: “Let’s keep going” because we are still getting the best out of the players. I don’t think it should be just results. Certainly not. ‘What if we draw France and Spain in the Euros and we are under pressure because we lose to them? That’s ridiculous. ‘I think that as long as we are seen to be squeezing the best out of them we can carry on. It’s up to you guys to judge that, but you have to look at it objectively and fairly. ‘You look at it and you realise that some are playing for their clubs and some aren’t. Some are playing in the Championship. Some are playing with Celtic and getting great Champions League experience. But against a team like England, you are playing against players who play for all the top clubs — so you can’t be too critical of that result. It is the performances that should be assessed.’ The SFA statement which confirmed the continuation of Strachan’s appointment at least offers a degree of clarity.

Despite last Friday’s reverse, McGhee never felt for a minute that Strachan would make a pre-emptive move to take the matter out of the hands of the Hampden board.

‘Gordon said to me: “I’m going to watch Leeds and Newcastle on Sunday”,’ McGhee explained. ‘And for me, that was all he needed to say. Onwards and upwards.

‘It doesn’t take a long conversation when you know each other as well as we do. I know his signals and I can read him.

‘In the week before the game, his appetite was full and it showed in the performance that he got his message across, because we played very well.

‘Yes, we’ve not had one of those big results or big performances like we did in the last qualification campaign, but that’s what we’re working towards. We were close to it at Wembley in some ways, and that’s what we’ll take out of it.

‘We’ll look at the next home game and we’ll really want that big performance. If we go into that game and the performance is abject, then clearly questions need to be asked, but so far Gordon has done just about as well as we could have expected.’