‘SFA decision was unanimous’

IT WAS a unanimous decision. (None of the sceptics) have spoken to Gordon Strachan in the manner that we have, assessed it based on information that we’ve got that they’ve not. Are we guaranteed to make every managerial decision correctly? At any board, at any club, you are absolutely not. It is about making a call. We’re afforded more information than anyone else. We can listen to the man who is in the hot-seat, which is Gordon, in a way that other people can’t and then you’ve got to make a call. Everything is based on results. In my time as a chairman of a football club, I have had managers who went through horrific periods and I backed them and they’ve come good. If you believe someone is the right man, you’re going through a difficult period, you’ve got a straightforward binary choice — you either back them or you don’t. We got information that’s broader because we get to speak to the man himself and if I thought Gordon didn’t believe he could do it, then I’d probably take a different view. Gordon is convinced he can do it. As far as I’m concerned the SFA, and everyone who is involved with us, is going to do everything they can to make sure that we bring the fans on board. We encourage fans to come along to all our games, to get behind the team. It’s our job, and I take joint responsibility, for ensuring that the SFA take steps to ensure that we try to get the fans behind us, behind the manager, behind the team and the country. Are there concerns? Always. But it is our job to try to do something about that. Do we have confidence in Gordon Strachan as a manager? Yes. You then establish whether Gordon believes it. Yes. Once you’ve got the two of them, you make a decision whether you believe him. I go into every meeting with an open mind and you’ve got to give consideration to the circumstances as they are presented to you. I want to believe in the manager and I want to believe that he believes. If Gordon had been questioning his ability to achieve it then that sometimes changes how you feel about things but he didn’t. He was pretty clear. If you employ someone, in any walk of life, and you give them a contract, then you’re backing them to the end of the campaign. Gordon says he believes he can achieve our target and he has my 100-per-cent support.

Mike Mulraney was speaking on BBC’s Sportsound programme.