After seven years of Steve Clarke, the SFA are now looking for a new head coach as the national team enters a new era. Here, Daily Mail Sport looks at some likely, and left-field, candidates…
DAVID MOYES
Every time the Scotland manager’s job becomes available, Moyes leads the early running before quietly dropping off the list.
While he is generally the highest-profile, most experienced home-grown coach that the SFA could appoint, he invariably has better things to do.
This time he is a year into his second spell with Everton. Although credited with revitalising them last season, Moyes ended that campaign with a run of seven winless games.
Who knows, he may be unemployed in the autumn, but right now he has a job he loves. The timing still doesn’t feel right for the 63-year-old Scot who has admitted he would like to lead his country one day.
Everton manager David Moyes was in Miami to see Scotland’s World Cup defeat by Brazil
Dunfermline manager Neil Lennon has always wanted to test himself at international level
Scotland assistant manager Steven Naismith could emerge as a caretaker option for the SFA
ANGE POSTECOGLOU
With new Rangers manager Derek McInnes unavailable, the SFA may have to look abroad for a manager of substance. Postecoglou ticks a lot of boxes.
First, he is a free agent. Second, he knows Scottish football, having led Celtic to five trophies in two seasons. He also managed Australia at the 2014 World Cup and led them to their first Asian Cup.
Whether he would be interested is another matter. Despite being sacked twice in the last year, by Spurs and Nottingham Forest, Postecoglou is a well-travelled coach with admirers in other countries. He will doubtless have other options, some of them lucrative.
STEVEN NAISMITH
In they are struggling to make an appointment that would be applauded, promoting from within could be a way out for the SFA: give Naismith the job on a caretaker basis, see how it pans out and make a decision later.
If he turns out to be a success, the fans will accept it. If he doesn’t, the SFA can claim that he was never intended to be a permanent solution. And, by then, there may be somebody better available.
Naismith’s experience as a manager extends no further than a year with Hearts, but he was Clarke’s assistant at the World Cup, he knows the players and he can handle the media.
NEIL LENNON
When it comes to appointing a high-profile figure who combines managerial success with gettability, few fit the bill better than Lennon.
As well as enjoying two trophy-laden spells in charge of Celtic, he led Hibs out of the Championship and up to fourth in the Premiership. He has had some failures, especially abroad, but Lennon knows how to get the most out of players, as he is showing again with Dunfermline.
Under-rated as a tactician, he is a student of the international game and has long yearned to be a manager at that level. After narrowly missing out on the Republic of Ireland job, is Scotland the opportunity he has been waiting for?
ALEX NEIL
Gone are the days when Scotland had a glut of managers operating in England’s top flight. South of the Border, only Moyes is operating at a higher level than Neil, who almost guided Millwall to promotion from the Championship last season.
He made his name by leading Hamilton to third in the Premiership. Then he took Norwich City into the Premier League and managed them there.
His cv is far from flawless, but Scotland could do a lot worse, if indeed he fancied it. Accepting the poisoned chalice that is Scotland doesn’t feel like a sensible career move for a 45-year-old whose star is in the ascendancy.
DARREN FLETCHER
If appeasing the media with a big-name manager is proving difficult, the SFA might be tempted to go for a big-name former Scotland international.
That’s why Scott Brown has been mentioned, despite his struggles with Fleetwood Town and Ayr United. It’s also why Darren Fletcher has come into the reckoning, despite having almost no experience on the front line.
The 42-year-old former midfielder, who is currently in charge of Manchester United’s under-18s, briefly served as caretaker manager of the club’s first team last season. He played 80 times for Scotland, but it takes more than that to be manager of the national side.
KASPER HJULMAND
Scotland still bear the scars of the Berti Vogts era, but that was almost two decades ago and the game has moved on. If clubs are now able — make that expected — to recruit managers with stat-driven data, why should national associations not be similarly objective?
Despite having no experience of Scottish football, Hjulmand is fancied by the bookies. As well as guiding Nordsjaelland to their first title, the Dane took his country to the Euro 2020 semi-finals before leading them to the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024.
He has been less promising outside his homeland. Earlier this month, he was sacked by Bayer Leverkusen, just as he had been by Mainz in 2015.
