COUNT ME OUT
Walter does not want to be next Scots boss
WALTER SMITH has pulled out of the race to be the next manager of Scotland.
Invited to discuss a return to the job he filled between 2004 and 2007, the Rangers legend contacted SFA chiefs yesterday to say he no longer wished to be considered.
Performance director Malky Mackay and Alex McLeish, strongly backed by vice-president Rod Petrie, are now favourites to succeed Gordon Strachan.
SFA president Allan McRae contacted Smith on Monday seeking talks.
Irked by the lack of a firm offer, however, the veteran boss ran out of patience and withdrew from the process.
Stung by criticism of their strategy during the pursuit of Northern Ireland’s Michael O’Neill, the sub-committee
responsible for finding a new boss are now working with a seven or eight-man shortlist and will report to the board on their findings next week. Former manager McLeish carries the patronage of Petrie. Others in the process favour handing Mackay a crack at getting the Scots to the Euro 2020 finals. Partick Thistle managing director Ian Maxwell, meanwhile, is the new frontrunner to become chief executive of the SFA. And hopes of a quick appointment have grown since the resignation of Regan eight days ago. The search for a chief executive took on a new urgency last night when Andrew McKinlay, placed in interim charge last week, was named the new head of Scottish Golf. The loss of the SFA chief operating officer now leaves the governing body seeking to fill three key vacancies after Regan followed Scotland manager Strachan out the Hampden exit. McKinlay will remain in temporary charge of the SFA until May. Former Team England managing director Adrian Bevington has also asked to be considered for the chief executive role. As one of the two SPFL representatives on the SFA board, however, Maxwell carries significant support amongst clubs keen to build bridges between the governing body and the SPFL following years of in-fighting. The 42-year-old became Thistle general manager in 2011 after a playing career with Queen’s Park, Ross County, St Johnstone, St Mirren and Thistle. And Regan’s departure from the SFA board has shifted the voting balance in favour of an internal appointment rather than a lengthy, drawnout search by external headhunters. Hibs chief executive Leann Dempster has also been quoted, but faces resistance due to her links to SFA vice-president and Easter Road chairman Rod Petrie. Last night’s McKinlay announcement represents another embarrassing departure from Hampden’s sixth floor. Speaking to a newspaper before the news broke, former SPFL chairman Ralph Topping praised McKinlay’s contribution, saying: ‘If they lose him at any time that would be the equivalent of losing Neymar, Messi and Suarez.’