ALEX McLEISH knows all about the perils of trying to second guess the actions of his friend Gordon Strachan. The Scotland manager's future has been the subject of much anguished speculation in the hours immediately following the agonising failure of the national team to reach the finals of Euro 2016.

With his contract set to expire after tomorrow's meaningless final-day encounter with Gibraltar in Faro, and as yet no talks under way between the national team boss and the SFA, many wonder whether the 58-year-old, who has previously walked away from posts at Southampton, Celtic and Middlesbrough may be about to conclude that he has also taken Scotland as far as he can.

For the record McLeish thinks both that Strachan should stay and that he will stay. Having occupied that same hot seat when Scotland failed to qualify for Euro 2008 in eerily similar circumstances then left in short order for club football with Birmingham City you can hardly argue that McLeish is unqualified to venture an opinion.

"When Gordon makes a decision he tends to stick to it," said the former Hibs, Rangers, Birmingham and Genk manager. "He might have that in his head right now. I know him very well and he can be quite impulsive but he’s his own man and he will do what he feels is right for him and his family.

"I feel that this is a role that suits him and that he will stay. That’s my opinion. I’m not saying it’s a cushy job but he’s got TV, he’s got a coaching business, he’s got about 20 grandweans. When it comes to games, his preparation, his thinking, his analysis is spot-on. He’s really strong in those departments."

While the SFA are under pressure to get their manager tied down on a contract to take them into a World Cup 2018 qualifying campaign which includes two matches with England, McLeish feels Strachan has earned some breathing space to make his decision. The Scotland national team has become locked into a pattern of short-termism when it comes to the manager's seat and a bit of stability could be exactly what the national team needs.

"If Gordon wants a bit of time I think they’ll respect that," said McLeish, a team-mate for both Aberdeen and Scotland. "They might be anxious to get a really positive decision within the next 24 hours and we’d all love that but Gordon might want a bit of time.

"If you look at success stories in national teams, the managers have often been there a long time," he added. "If you look at Morten Olsen at Denmark, Jogi Loew at Germany and those previous Scotland managers [Jock Stein, Andy Roxburgh, Craig Brown] they were there a long time.

“I do think there is a good bond there, like a club spirit," he added. "There are short-term and there are longer-term aims and we shouldn’t throw that away. There will be other people who say he should go, but I think he should stay.”

While the European Championships, expanded to 24 teams partially at Scotland's behest for the summer of 2016, presented reasonable odds of qualification, the same cannot be said for World Cup 2018 in Russia. One unlucky second-place team even misses out on a play-off spot, while the quality of the next tranche of young Scottish player remains to be seen. "He’s got a lot to think about, but I think Gordon would take losing to England if we qualified," said McLeish.

There are bigger questions out there than the manager. Scotland are serial offenders when it comes to missing out on the major finals and McLeish, who sidestepped the question of whether he would be open to a return in the event that Strachan did leave, admitted the campaign had huge echoes of the qualification bid for Euro 2008. He denied that it is Scotland's fate now to be a middle ranking nation who never qualify for a major finals.

"I don’t think we are Latvia," he said. "There have been really good performances. I think Gordon has got the best out of most of the guys. Some players can do more. There are a couple emerging - the two wingers on Thursday night were a breath of fresh air. That’s a plus. But the coefficient readings are not going to look good.

"We’re going to have to lick our wounds – again – and it’ll be difficult for the players and for Gordon and the coaches to let it go," said McLeish. "It’s just the way football is – it takes a grip of your life. For weeks after we lost to Italy at Hampden in 2007, I just couldn’t get it out of my head that we hadn’t made it.

"We’ll look back on this section and Gordon will do a big analysis, as he always does," added McLeish, speaking at a Bank of Scotland Midnight League Player of the Year Event which recognised young footballing talent across Scotland. "He’s very thorough and he’ll identify why we weren’t strong enough. Was it down to lack of concentration? Was it down to some guys not playing at the highest level? When you look at some of the Northern Ireland team then it shouldn’t be that. Why should be losing a goal like the injury-time equaliser on Thursday night? Why should we lose one to the best goalscorer in Europe right now after just two minutes? These are the fundamentals."