Alex McLeish has told the SFA to trust him to spark the greatest comeback in Scottish football history.
The national boss was remaining defiant as speculation mounts on his future following that shocking 3-0 defeat in Kazakhstan.
The Scotland squad arrived in San Marino on Friday night after a seven-hour trip from Nursultan with their Euro 2020 campaign already in the grubber.
It’s shaping up as Group I for ignominy in a section that also contains FIFA No.1s Belgium and World Cup quarter- finalists Russia.
Scotland have left themselves with absolutely no room for manoeuvre, even against the two group favourites, but McLeish is adamant they can still progress.
He will not walk away and asked if he’ll quit he said: “No, not at all. This is in my genes. Listen, of course it’s hard but I never feel I’m on a hiding to nothing or anything like that.
“I still feel it’s a fantastic challenge. If we can do it now and qualify from this setback it will be the greatest ever.
“Right now everybody is telling me it’s the worst ever, but that’s what I have to believe, that we can turn it around.”
McLeish took charge of the Scots for the second time a year ago today as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica.
He has won four games in 11 matches played, but insists his players can learn the lessons from Kazakhstan, just as they did when they were defeated 2-1 in Israel in October.
Why Alex McLeish is unlikely to be sacked despite worst result in Scotland's history
That left their Nations League chances in the balance, but they ralled to defeat Albania 4-0 and the Israelis 3-2 to seal a play-off semi-final against Finland next March.
McLeish added: “All the boys are honest enough to be able to look at the footage and stand up to be counted.
“I won’t single out any individuals but it’s good for them to see some of the bad things.
“We did an hour-long meeting after the Israel game – and you know it can be hard to sit the modern-day player down for 10 minutes - but we had a really good open-air discussion. They then saw it right in the two next games.”
