Scotland need a dream team like Walter Smith, Tommy Burns and Ally McCoist

The national team have previous, quite a bit of it, of times when the team is under-performing, players not overly keen to turn up, and those who do train and play in a bad atmosphere having started a campaign slowly.

It ends with likeable manager finding himself in an impossible decision.

Let’s go back to 2004 and Berti Vogts, a much-maligned figure who did get Scotland to a replay and handed out first caps to, among others, James McFadden, Darren Fletcher and Kenny Miller who all went on to have fine international careers.

By the end of that year, Scotland began their World Cup campaign with at home to Slovenia, defeat to Norway at Hampden, then followed that with a 1-1 in Moldova. Three games, two points and one goal.

Back then, as is the case now, the country had more or less given up on a national team, wee Berti, a good man, was struggling and for the good of all a change was made.

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In came Walter Smith. A weak manager was replaced by someone who made grown men sit up straight the moment the moment he walked into the room.

If, and it remains if, the SFA decide to remove Alex McLeish, they would be wise to learn lessons from the past. Smith wouldn’t be the man as that time has passed, but a figurehead who knows football, footballers and the mere mention of his name demands respect.

“I used to hear about people in football who had a certain awe about them and thought it was rubbish, if I’m honest,” said Graham Alexander, the former Scotland international who was given his debut by Vogts at the age of 30.

“Then Walter was appointed Scotland manager and I said to myself: ‘ah, that’s what it means to have a presence.’ Walter was a man you respected. He was the gaffer and we all felt that it was a privilege to play for him.

“I couldn’t put my finger on why it was like that. He would be a bit distant, he’d watch training from afar, taking everything in, while Ally McCoist and the great Tam Burns would interact with the players.

“I have a lot to thank Berti for, he made my dream come true to play for Scotland, but towards the end it wasn’t a great atmosphere. Walter, Coisty and Tam changed all of that.

“It was unbelievable. We were like a club then. It was a case of when is the next camp, the next call-up? Ten days stuck in a hotel can be a long time away from family but there was never an hour that didn’t go by people laughing. We had great camaraderie.

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“Ally and Tam were wonderful. I had some of my best times with those guys. They brought everyone together. Water was a bit above it all and when he spoke, you listened.”

The problem from Ian Maxwell, the SFA chief executive, is that there aren’t many people around like Smith, McCoist and the late Burns.

McLeish was that man in 2007, when Smith left for Rangers, but great figure though he is, this Scotland legend needed a good start given his appointment was shrouded in negativity and didn’t get one.

The tactics and team selection are puzzling to the outsider and most likely inside the dressing room. This is Scotland, an international team which needs to be organised, disciplined and tactically realistic.

“Right away, the team gelled and we got some good results,” recalled Alexander who was an almost ever-present at right-back under the Smith regime.

“I felt comfortable in the squad and on the pitch. It was brilliant.

“We had good players but what Walter understood was that we weren’t going to go out and batter teams, we weren’t going to outscore them. He made us horrible to play against. Even the best teams, Italy, Ukraine and France, had to play very well to beat us.

“Everyone knew what their jobs were. We were compact and organised. He gave the players the confidence that we could get a result against sides that were better than us.”

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And the best example of this was that incredible 2006 day when World Cup finalists France were defeated at Hampden by a Gary Caldwell goal. It is worth remembering that McLeish orchestrated one of Scotland’s greatest results by winning in Paris thanks to THAT James McFadden moment of magic.

“Before we play France at Hampden, Walter sat us down and we listened as he told us that they were a better team and if we were open and tried to take the game to them, they would take us apart,” said Alexander.

“We would sit off them, let them have the ball and be used to them having the ball, to not worry about that and chasing it all over the pitch. He said we would get opportunities.

“I felt his knowledge and the way he got it over to the players was brilliant. Perfect, even. We stuck to his plan, we trusted it, and big Gaz got the goal.”

So, what Scotland need is an established manager who makes the players feel lucky to be in the squad who knows how to beat teams better than us. Easy.