Stephen McManus was playing under Gordon Strachan at Celtic when his then manager decided that enough was enough, and called time on his spell in the Parkhead dugout.

He was then playing under him at Middlesbrough when he did the same, as Strachan held up his hands and decided he could take the club no further.

He knows very well then that if his former boss thought he had reached the end of the road as Scotland manager, he would be the first one to admit it.

“I think so,” McManus said. "If I remember right, Gordon had been at Celtic for three years and, when I spoke to him, he probably felt the last year was when he was ready.

“Four years in the Old Firm is a long time. It is not the same intensity when you are the national manager because you are not there every day.

“For me, Gordon is one of the best coaches or managers I have ever worked with. At Middlesbrough, he certainly wasn’t under pressure from the owner at that time. So that was a shock.

“Gordon will know when the time is right, but I just hope he stays on.”

Whether staying on in his position is solely up to Strachan remains to be seen, but McManus says that the answer to Scotland’s woes doesn’t lie in simply sacking the manager.

And he has called upon the entire country to give both Strachan and his players positive backing as they gear up for the trip to Wembley next month.

“I don’t think the answer is to sack someone or for someone to walk away when things aren’t going great,” he said. “That’s just my opinion.

“The players respect Gordon. You can see that. At international level, you can usually see how players feel about a manager when you look at them pulling out of the squad.

“No-one does that. Everyone wants to go every single time. And that’s because they enjoy working under Gordon, Mark (McGhee) and now Andy Watson.

“The next big game is going to be key. We are only three points behind England who are top of the group.

“Of course it is going to be a difficult place to go and win. But there is also not a better place to win if you are Scottish. That would get us right back into contention in the group."