Talks between Alex McLeish and the Scottish Football Association on Thursday may well trigger the end of the 60-year-old’s second tenure as Scotland manager.
McLeish, appointed in February last year, has been under intense pressure since Scotland’s 3-0 defeat in Kazakhstan last Thursday in their opening Euro 2020 qualifier. The visiting support subsequently booed for concerted spells of the unconvincing 2-0 win in San Marino on Sunday.
The sense is rising that the Scottish FA will act swiftly to trigger managerial change. Scotland’s next European Championship qualifying fixture is against Cyprus in June. Steve Clarke, in charge of Kilmarnock, would be the early favourite to replace McLeish.
The former Motherwell, Rangers and Birmingham manager won only one of his four matches last season, beating Hungary while losing to Costa Rica, Peru and Mexico. He enjoyed more success in the autumn as Scotland won their Nations League section ahead of Albania and Israel, though Scotland lost 4-0 at home to Belgium and 3-1 at home to Portugal in friendlies.
McLeish was previously in charge of Scotland in 2007, coming close to qualifying for Euro 2008.
