SFA SET TO CONTACT SIR ALEX FERGUSON

The SFA will sound out Sir Alex Ferguson about the next Scotland boss - but Gordon Smith won't say if he'll be offered the job!

Smith will confer with the Old Trafford manager on behalf of the Hampden bosses prior to the appointment of George Burley's successor.

The SFA Chief Executive admitted: "It came out before the last appointment that while I was talking to Sir Alex and asking him about different people, I said to him, 'It would be remiss of me not to put it to you and ask if you would be interested'. The answer was, 'No'.

"So I asked if he'd be interested part-time and the answer still 'no'. I'll speak to him again when we're discussing the next appointment.

"Would I ask him if he was interested now? Potentially, I might ask him. But I'm not saying I'm going to!"

However Smith acknowledges the next manager will require the kind of experience and ability to handle the scrutiny that comes with the job - something the likes of Ferguson and candidate Walter Smith do have.

He said: "That might be something that comes under consideration. Some people might not know the goldfish bowl that is Scotland. As soon as you're put into a job up here you're doing it on a different basis.

"It's probably the same in England with the national manager. If you've been the Old Firm manager, it does give you that level of experience in that side of it - but that doesn't necessarily mean to say that our next manager will be ex-Old Firm manager.

"When you're picking a manager you can never know for certain how it will work out.

"Every player a manager signs is a gamble, whether it's a £200,000 player or a £10 million one - and you don't know with managers either. So much of it's down to the chemistry thing - one manager will do well somewhere where another one won't.

"The individual keeps or loses their job on the basis of what they do. I don't think you can influence them or talk to them - you have to let them do their job. And we were very supportive of George and let him do his job."

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