Craig Levein has ceased to be. He is pushing up the daisies, he's joined the choir invisible - that's right, Monty Python aficionados, he is an ex-Scotland manager.
Well, not quite, but the argument for keeping him going is about as logical as that used by Michael Palin in that Dead Parrot sketch.
Levein's departure is inevitable - there is no way anyone will tolerate him hanging on till the March qualifiers. The question now is whether he will be kept on the wage bill for the friendlies with Luxembourg in November and Estonia in February. Given that he is the lamest of lame ducks, letting him guide Scotland through these matches seems utterly pointless. To quote Leo Amery to Neville Chamberlain in May 1940, "In the name of God, go!"
But how much will sacking the beleaguered boss set the SFA back? SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS!
You can bet that the SFA will be sending the bailiffs round to Craig Whyte's place to make sure his fine is paid - they'll need the cash.
If you think that's bad, consider this - apparently Levein had a clause in his contract that allowed us to chuck him at the end of the Euro 2012 qualifiers without giving him so much as a bean. This time last year, poor results, a failure to even make a playoff and the 4-6-0 farce gave the men at the top more than enough reason to change the guard. Their dilly-dallying and lack of leadership back then will mean that the former Hearts and Dundee Utd manager will pick up a hefty financial reward for his incompetence - money that is sorely needed by the Scottish game.
I mean, who negotiated that contract in the first place - a five and a half year deal for a manager with no Champions League or top European league experience, with a salary even higher than that of George Burley? It's almost as bad as when Leeds United signed Seth Johnson, and Peter Ridsdale's opening offer was £30,000 a week...when Johnson's agent was intending to hold out for no less than £13,000; when his jaw dropped, Ridsdale misread the situation and upped his offer to £37,000 a week!
I digress. I would be pushing my luck to slag off the appointment of Levein in the first place, but not to criticize the SFA's handling of his tenure. The writing was on the wall a year ago - perhaps even further back - yet the SFA board chose not to read it. Their failure is an expensive one. It's the last thing that they need as well, given that their handling of the Rangers crisis in the summer was shabby at best and downright negligent at worst. Chief Executive Stewart Regan was heavily criticised by SFL clubs over that fiasco; in fact those clubs tried to hold a motion of no confidence in him, only to be told they weren't allowed to do so. This is a guy who tried to claim that dropping Rangers down the leagues "would cause social unrest". It's also a guy who was quite happy to keep Campbell Ogilvie in his role as SFA president...the same Campbell Ogilvie who, as secretary of Rangers, signed off several EBTs and actually had one himself. The concept of 'gardening leave' was invented for times like these - instead Ogilvie was kept in his post amid claims from Regan that he "doesn't have any involvement in the investigation." Pull the other one, chaps.
The importance of a good manager at international level cannot be underestimated; when the team gets together only a few times a year, tactics and organization are paramount, as is motivation. In Levein, Scotland chose a coach with no experience managing in the top flight of a major European league, or of managing in the Champions League. We picked a mediocre manager, and hoped for the best. Compare that with the Republic of Ireland, who speculated to accumulate and at least managed to qualify for a European Championship finals with Giovanni Trapattoni at the helm. Sadly, it may be that the cost of paying off Levein leaves us hamstrung financially when trying to attract someone with pedigree. And I wouldn't trust Regan and co to pick his replacement. I wouldn't even trust them to pick up a pint of milk for me. They'd probably pick up a crap brand, pay over the odds for it, and then take so long to bring it to me that it will have turned sour.
There is at least a beacon of hope; the results of our under-17 and under-19 sides are very positive, which might mean that we are beginning to get things right at youth level. The appointment of Mark Wotte as performance director seems like a sensible idea - and I say that, if we trust in his abilities, we should give him a significant say over who succeeds Levein. Certainly he seems a damn sight more qualified to make that decision than those procrastinating pen-pushers at the top of the ladder. The end of Levein should be a catalyst for greater change, the straw that breaks the camel's back. Regan and Ogilvie are not taking Scottish football in the right direction. We need new faces and new ideas, pronto. Sack the lot.
L.
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