Norway rout heaps pressure on Scotland manager George Burley

• SFA chief executive: 'People were expecting us to be better'
• Scots require six points from six to secure play-off

*
o
o Share
o Reddit
o Buzz up

* Andy Hunter
* The Guardian, Friday 14 August 2009
* Article history

George Burley Geroge Burley's position as Scotland manager will come under review in September. Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

The brutal simplicity of a play-off or a pay-off awaits George Burley next month after the Scottish Football Association reiterated his remit as Scotland manager is to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa.

The prospect of a first World Cup finals appearance since 1998 plummeted along with Burley's international security on Wednesday in a calamitous 4-0 loss to Norway. Scotland now require victories over Macedonia on 5 September and runaway the leaders Holland four days later to secure second place in Group Nine and enough points for a play-off berth.

Gordon Smith, the chief executive of the SFA, admitted Burley's position will be reviewed following the double-header at Hampden Park, although that is standard procedure for any campaign. He accepted, however, that results have fallen seriously short of expectations but was equivocal in his support for the beleaguered manager. Matters could come to a head should Burley fail to improve on a dismal record of two wins in 10 matches when the Macedonians arrive in Glasgow in just over three weeks' time.

"While George is employed by the SFA we believe he is the right man to take us forward," said Smith. "The results don't always go along with performances or always show what a manager is doing. George is in charge and we are looking to the next two games to take us forward and then we will see where we are after that. George was brought in as the manager to qualify us for this World Cup. That was his remit when he came in."

The ire of the Tartan Army was not reserved exclusively for Alain Hamer in Oslo, the Luxembourg official who changed the tie with the harsh dismissal of Gary Caldwell before John Arne Riise converted the resultant free-kick via a deflection. A crowd of Scotland supporters remonstrated with Smith and his fellow SFA board members as they left Ullevaal Stadium, and the chief executive was left in no doubt as to the depth of anger.

"I feel as low as I ever felt as a player. I am gutted. I feel sick. I know how the supporters feel because I feel the same," said Smith. "A lot of people spent money to go over there and I totally understand it if they want to have a go at somebody. It is an emotional game and emotions come out. I would rather it was me getting the stick than George. George has got a job to do with the team and so if the stick comes to me that's fine. I was expecting it. It was a big match and people were expecting us to be better than that. A lot of things went against us in Norway but I understand the frustration and the anger and I have to accept it."

Such protests have not been witnessed at a Scotland game since a 1-1 draw against Moldova in October 2004, and then manager Berti Vogts departed a month later. When the suits come under fire someone else's head invariably rolls in football, but Smith insisted Burley's fate will not be discussed until Scotland's World Cup fate is decided. "There hasn't been any suggestion of that at all," he said. "There is a whole process for that to happen but that is not something we have thought about. We are just thinking about matches at the moment and to support George."

Burley has been undermined by controversy, misfortune and some unsuccessful decision-making during this campaign, and Smith admits Scotland are largely responsible for their own predicament.

"There have been a few issues during the campaign, I don't think there is any doubt about that," the chief executive admitted. "Lee McCulloch retiring first wasn't so bad, he had made his decision beforehand, but other issues have been bigger and then there are other aspects like the ordering- off against Norway, which I thought was harsh, which has made things tough. They have had an impact.

"Because we had so much optimism after the previous campaign, when we were in a harder group and pushed it until the last game, this time the group didn't seem as hard but we haven't got the results. The results could have been better. We now need six points from six to get to the play-offs, including against a top side like Holland who we deliberately put to the end of qualifying in the hope they had already qualified. It is difficult."

Taken from the Guardian/Observer