David Moyes is open to becoming the next Scotland manager if Gordon Strachan goes

When Gordon Strachan goes, and who is to say he doesn’t fancy seeing the campaign through, the person currently in charge of Sunderland is the best home-grown candidate they could realistically get.

Moyes, of course, has a job in the Premier League and an extremely well paid one at that.

But Sunderland are a basket-case of a club and it is my understanding that the Glaswegian is not happy at the Stadium of Light and is looking for a way out.

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His team is, at best, good enough to be mid-table challengers in the Championship, which is exactly where they are heading after three incredible escapes from relegation in a row.

They have won once in 11 league games and sit bottom on five points.

It is understood that Moyes has been told only limited funds available to him in January when the reality is he needs to add at least four quality Premier League players to his squad to stand any chance of staying up.

Sunderland, through no real fault of Moyes, are going down. The owner, American billionaire Ellis Short, is willing to sell the club which only adds to uncertainty and, take it from a journalist who spent three years in the North East covering football, this is a club which has utterly lost its way.

After Manchester United and Real Sociedad, Moyes could do without another failure on his CV, even if he could hardly be faulted for what has been happening on Wearside for way too long.

It is my understanding that the 53-year-old wants to become Scotland manager and only last month admitted: “It's something I'd never say never to in the future, never say never to managing in Scotland. It's always something which I would definitely keep open.”

Scotland was always something he wanted to take on as a challenge at some point in his career. This may well be that point.

There would be obstacles to overcome. The money would have to be right and, of course, Sunderland would have something to say about this. However, if a change is to be made then this is a realistic option.

And change has to be made.

Derek McInnes is an option, Michael O'Neill is the favourite of many but would probably say no, or they go left-field and someone such as Roy Keane would at least be respected.

Do you want to know what hurt most to those of us at Wembley on Friday night? It’s that the Scotland international football team has become utter irrelevance to everyone in England.

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They don’t hate us or view us as rivals. Most supporters and almost all the media didn’t see the clash as some welcome return of a much-missed fixture. They only cared if for once their team played okay and scored a few goals.

We are the equivalent of Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia, the other countries in our World Cup group; there to be beaten when the qualifying game comes around and then not thought about again until the return match.

Scotland are not even good enough to be called also-rans. We have slumped from regularly making major tournaments to missing out in play-offs or the chance of a play-off through a mixture of misfortune and not being quite good enough to where we are now.

Which is better than Malta and, er, that’s about it.

Strachan’s charge street is long. His team were dreadful in the first-half in Dublin, put in one of the worst ever Scotland performances in Georgia (not a shot at goal, remember), appalling at home to Lithuania and then last month thrashed by Slovakia.

The idea all the blame should be laid at Strachan’s door is a nonsense, but he has made way too many mistakes.

The centre of defence has been a major problem for a while but he kept with the same two, Russell Martin and Grant Hanley, while ignoring Christophe Berra who actually did okay on Friday night.

And while there be wildly differing views over the merits of Charlie Adam, Jordan Rhodes, Ross McCormack and Stuart Armstrong at a push, it has always seemed strange they have never been given a real chance when the likes of Chris Martin and Craig Forsyth have.

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Strachan’s record in his 20 competitive games shows just eight wins; Croatia twice, Macedonia, Georgia, Ireland, Gibraltar twice and Malta. The wins over Croatia and Macedonia were at the start of his tenure when there was little chance of reaching the European Championships of last summer.

Factor in draws to Ireland and Lithuania at home, plus the last defeat in Slovakia and that horror show last year in Georgia, and then we have the 3-0 defeat at Wembley, and Strachan is a hard man to defend.