Former Scotland striker Paul Dickov has urged the SFA to stand by embattled Scotland boss Gordon Strachan, just like the associations of Northern Ireland and Wales did with Michael O’Neill and Chris Coleman.

Dickov was at Wembley for Friday night’s defeat to England, and felt that the Scots had actually played reasonably well until the second goal on the night knocked the stuffing out of them.

The loss leaves Scotland down in fifth position in their qualification group for the 2018 World Cup, and with a mountain to climb if they are to have any hope of reaching Russia.

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Many critics of Strachan point to other home nations like Wales and Northern Ireland and question why Scotland can’t replicate their success, and Dickov agrees that the SFA should learn from their example.

For him though, that means sticking with Strachan in the face of mounting calls for him to be sacked, just as those associations did when their managers went through similarly sticky spells before going on to deliver qualification to a major tournament.

Northern Ireland’s O’Neill only won one of his opening 18 games in charge of his country, while Coleman lost his first four before defeating – you guessed it – Scotland.

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The obvious difference between those managers and Strachan is that the Scotland boss has been in position for almost four years, but for Dickov, to break the nation's cycle of failure the SFA have to show similar faith in Strachan.

“I know there is a lot of pressure on Gordon at this minute and it’s probably, from people I’ve been speaking to and back home, it’s split down the middle, it’s 50-50, but there is a big clamour for him to go,” Dickov said.

“But I look at Northern Ireland and Wales and maybe a big factor in why they are doing so well is that Michael had a horrendous start and couldn’t buy a win for a long, long time, but the Northern Ireland FA stood by him even though there was a huge clamour for him to get sacked.

“Chris Coleman went four games without winning and it was the same thing, there was a huge clamour in the media and by the fans to get him sacked but the Welsh FA stuck by him.

“And I believe that continuity is one of the reasons why those two countries - I know Wales have got Gareth Bale who is world-class and Aaron Ramsey who is a top class player - but that continuity of keeping the management staff together is a big reason why they’ve done so well.

“I think a lot of people are saying to look at Northern Ireland and Wales and see how they are setting up and playing. We need to start slowly and get back to basics and then build momentum again.”

Of course, the decision on their manager’s future may not be the SFA’s to make, with the Scotland boss currently in Portugal considering his own level of desire to continue after three damaging results and performances.

Dickov has experienced the feeling himself as a manager of reaching the stage where he felt he could take a team no further, but when asked if he felt that point had now been met in Strachan’s Scotland reign, he said: “That’s a question I can’t answer.

“He’ll be hurting more than anybody after the past few results we’ve had.

“My own personal opinion is he will stay and he won’t walk because if you’re going to resign from a job you usually do it fairly quickly after a bad result and he’s not done it as yet.

“I was at the game [on Friday] and you can call me daft, stupid or both but I thought Scotland did alright.

“I’m based in England now and the general consensus, even from England fans, was up until the second goal Scotland were in the game.

“It’s quite simple for me, when you’ve got players of the quality of Rooney, Lallana, Sterling and Sturridge in the last third that makes a difference.

“Scotland came out and started the first 20 minutes really well, at the start of the second half we had two unbelievable chances.

“You talk about defining moments in games all the time and in the space of a few moments England score and it’s 2-0 and game over.”

Dickov displays a wry smile when his time playing under Berti Vogts with Scotland is brought up, with the experience leaving him in no doubt that a Scot should always be in charge of the national side.

There are some who see a possibly easy path to replicating the sort of success that Northern Ireland have had by simply poaching their manager, but while Dickov rates Michael O’Neill highly, he is less than enthused about the prospect of his friend taking over as Scotland boss.

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“Personally I wouldn’t like to see that, no,” he said.

“I’m a big believer that the national team manager has to come from that country.

“I know Michael well and he will be buzzing at the job he is doing right now. But if it came down to it I would like to see a Scottish manager getting the Scotland job.

“But who will want to take it and who are we going to get that can progress and take us further?

“There’s so much scrutiny on the managers of Scotland, England, Northern Ireland or Wales that it’s a very difficult job. But one think I will say about Gordon is he is involved behind the scenes with the young players and he knows how the system works. So Gordon staying would give it continuity."