Scotland assistant manager Mark McGhee claims he has no idea if Gordon Strachan is considering his future as manager of the national side.

Poor results against Lithuania and Slovakia in the past week have seriously damaged the country’s World Cup qualification hopes, with Scotland taking just one point from those fixtures.

That has led to huge scrutiny around Strachan’s position, with many questioning whether he still has the hunger for the role as he approaches his fourth anniversary as Scotland boss.

But McGhee, who sat next to Strachan on the flight home from Slovakia, says that the pair haven’t discussed his state of mind in regards to continuing in the job.

And he revealed that even he had to check in with the SFA’s Head of Communications yesterday morning to see if there had been any developments.

“I have no idea,” McGhee said. “I have no indication. He gave me no sign. The habit has not been when we’re on the plane that we start talking about the next game, we discuss what happened with England or what we’re going to do next. It was all about the moment.

“We spoke about the ins and outs of the Slovakia game but at no point did we discuss anything other than that. I left him at Glasgow airport and his wife Lesley picked him up and they drove down south because they were going to a funeral yesterday. That’s the last I spoke to him.

“I spoke to Darryl Broadfoot this morning and there’s no indications of meetings (at the SFA) so, as far as I’m concerned, I’m getting on with it.”

McGhee acknowledges that the performances and results over the past week have been some way short of acceptable.

He also understands that many supporters will have lost faith with the management team he is a part of as a consequence.

McGhee stressed though that Strachan’s sole motivation for doing the job is to try to get those same fans to a major tournament.

“I can’t argue with the results,” he said. “We lost 3-0. Therefore the Scotland fans have to say what they will say or take whatever view they take.

“I can’t do anything about that – other, than when we get back together the next time, work hard to get the right formula and get the right result.

“I do know that we all try our best, even if at times it does not appear like that. But I know that Gordon Strachan does it for the fans. That’s what his motivation is.

“I remember at the Nigeria-Scotland game at Fulham and the fans that night were sensational. As we walked off the pitch, Gordon said: ‘Imagine going to a World Cup of Euros with this crowd of fans.’

“That’s what he’s doing it for. He’s no doing it for himself, he’s not doing it for money or self-publicity, he’s not doing it to try and get another job. He does it for the fans I can assure you.”

Despite the setbacks of the past week, McGhee is confident that he and Strachan can turn things around, and he is adamant that the Scots still have a great chance of qualifying for Russia in 2018.

And his confidence that Scotland can go to Wembley next month and return with a positive result has not been dented.

“I’m disappointed with the outcome but I am optimistic that there is still an opportunity that the table can turn,” he said.

“The squad is very tight and it’s a bonus to us that there have been draws elsewhere and that has kept us right in it. It’s still all to play for and that’s the important thing.

“I know we have to do better than we did the other night but I am convinced we have a group of players that can

“The England game is a fantastic game to be part of. We are three points behind them but who knows? There is a performance within the squad that we can go there and get a result.”