Long before Sunday lunchtime the noise and conspiracy attached to a meeting of Celtic and Rangers will have reduced Scotland’s humiliation in Kazakhstan to an afterthought, which is precisely the way those presiding over the national team want it.

Any self-respecting governing body would have jettisoned Alex McLeish after the 3-0 defeat in Astana. Instead, the manager was left to reflect on a “bright start” – Scotland were 2-0 down after 10 minutes – as his paymasters began their latest game of hide and seek. By the time Scotland’s travelling circus reached San Marino, McLeish was unwilling to “dwell on history”.

Scotland managed to be even more abject for long spells against the side at the foot of the world rankings. It would be an act of gross negligence if the Scottish Football Association allowed its A-team to sleepwalk through another qualifying group, rather than try to rectify what is possibly a retrievable situation.

Alex McLeish admits Scotland must ‘kick on’ after nervy win over San Marino Read more

That McLeish’s second tenure will not end satisfactorily has been clear for some time. There will be no great revival. Scotland are bereft of organisation, inspiration and strategy. Excuse after excuse fails to mask glaring underperformance. The shortage of belief is a pounding noise the Scottish FA should not ignore. The Tartan Army, hardly a rebellious lot, were in mutiny mode during the San Marino slog on Sunday.

Contrary to occasional opinion, McLeish has been afforded a far easier ride than could have been forthcoming. Just ask Berti Vogts, George Burley or Craig Levein (one was castigated for his tie, another for donning a certain type of eyewear).

McLeish is a symptom of grim Scottish football governance. The same applies to his coaching staff: Peter Grant was heard barking relentless orders to players presumably incapable of independent thought against the might of San Marino.

The solution is within 20 miles of the Scottish FA’s Hampden Park bunker. It should move heaven and earth to coax Steve Clarke from Kilmarnock, even at the culmination of this domestic season and thereby before Scotland take on Cyprus in June. Clarke’s man‑management, back-to-basics approach, refusal to stand on ceremony with players or media and experience at loftier levels mean his candidature is a no-brainer.

The Fiver | Humiliation calculated as Kazakhstan = 1978 x (Costa Rica + Uruguay)² Read more

The trouble is, we have no reason to have faith in the Scottish FA’s willingness or ability to act appropriately. This is an organisation where, among other classics, the performance director, Malky Mackay, booms instructions at under-19 and under-21 international games despite not being on the coaching staff. The Scottish FA approached Walter Smith to ascertain whether he would be willing to discuss the manager’s role pre-McLeish, only to delay the follow-up so long the 71-year-old removed himself from the equation so as to enjoy a family holiday.

Its board is dominated by the squabbling of two factions: the longtime association types and those peddling the wishes of clubs via the Scottish Professional Football League. This is a league which retains a dull four-times-a-season format to safeguard one fixture – between Rangers and Celtic – allows plastic pitches in the top flight, commands awful television deals and thinks, as per Saturday, a “domestic” cup final between Ross County and Connah’s Quay Nomads represents innovation.

Perhaps club representatives will logically pursue their own missions as part of the SFA board. The biggest in the country are the worst at operating in Machiavellian style from the shadows. But when they do, the position of the Scottish national team – including the coaching staff – will not prosper. If the SFA continues to dance to a club tune, where politics overshadow a greater good, nothing will improve meaningfully.

Scotland suffers from a domestic obsession, where the league itself fuels a duopoly. The same does not occur in Northern Ireland, for example. There, as in Norway, the Republic of Ireland, Iceland, Belgium and Wales the biggest clubs do not tower above the national side. Scotland’s Old Firm narrative is all‑consuming and, arguably, harmful.

Winning is only way for Scotland to apologise for Kazakhstan, says McLeish Read more

Received wisdom points fingers at Alan McRae and Rod Petrie, time‑honoured SFA board members, for this McLeish fiasco. That duo were, indeed, needlessly hasty when pushing McLeish forward after talks with Michael O’Neill collapsed. The admission of McRae, the president, that McLeish was a friend of 30 years, whose testimonial committee he had chaired, was a monumental public relations blunder.

Yet McRae and Petrie should not be at the forefront of policy; they have become soft targets. Others are handsomely rewarded to lead; instead, they vanish down rabbit holes. In Ian Maxwell and Neil Doncaster, Scotland has administrators paid six‑figure sums to run the game at the SFA and SPFL respectively. Doncaster sits on the SFA board. The Englishman probably cannot believe his luck; when the hapless SPL was reconfigured in 2013, he kept his job. Maxwell was plucked from relegation-bound Partick Thistle. The sense prevailed then, as now, that Maxwell was catapulted forward to safeguard the interests of clubs. It is easy to make the case that his tenure has been disastrous to date.

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Scotland’s national team remain without a sponsor. Clubs give a good impression of regarding the international side as at best an afterthought and at worst an inconvenience. All the while, Scotland slide further down their own national consciousness to the point of irrelevance. If the SFA persists with McLeish it will be embarrassed by tens of thousands of empty seats when Cyprus come to town on 8 June. And rightly so: if those termed “custodians” of the game do not demonstrate a care for its wellbeing, why should anybody subsidise their folly?