Scottish Football Association chief wants Gordon Strachan to stay on

Scottish Football Association chief Alan McRae has confirmed that he wants Scotland coach Gordon Strachan to remain in charge regardless of whether the national team reaches the Euro 2016 finals.

The Scots' qualification hopes hang in the balance, with Strachan's side lying in fourth place in Group D, four points behind the Republic of Ireland ahead of the final two matches.

However, McRae insists that Strachan has brought stability to Scotland since taking the helm in 2013, and has backed him to remain in the hotseat.

"I'm going to stick my neck out and say I don't think Gordon will want to leave the job," he told The Express. "He loves the job. It's the right job for him. He hasn't got the day-to-day issues he'd have with other jobs.

"Even though it's a board decision, I can't see any of our board wanting anything other than Gordon continuing. There's been progress. Everything doesn't become bad because of one bad result against Georgia.

"I see no reason why he won't still be manager. It'll be up to him but he has a contract and we always said we'd look at it after the [qualifying] campaign. He's happy with that. But Gordon loves the job so I don't see any reason why he won't be here. Surely everyone can see there's been improvement in this campaign."

Scotland's final qualifying matches are against Poland at home and Gibraltar away.