He's Scot the lot

Brown: backs Burley

There is no transfer market in international football so the Scotland manager's job is to select wisely and George Burley does that very well.

Craig Brown
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Former Scotland boss Craig Brown has backed George Burley as the right man to take the national team forward.

Southampton manager Burley has come out on top in the selection process after he and three other candidates - Tommy Burns, Mark McGhee, Graeme Souness - were interviewed by the SFA and an approach will now be made to the Championship club.

And Brown, who managed Scotland between 1993 and 2002, believes Burley has all the attributes to be a success with the national team.

He told Sky Sports News: "I'm happy with George Burley and I think everyone in Scotland is pleased with the appointment. Any one of the four candidates would have been acceptable, but George Burley is first class as far as we are concerned.

"I think he is an excellent man manager, a first-class coach and he gets the best out of ordinary players. There is no transfer market in international football so his job is to select wisely and he does that very well.

"It seems that George interviewed very well and that's no surprise given his vast experience of coaching in European football. He was in the Uefa Cup twice with Ipswich and he's played for Scotland.

"I don't think there was much to choose between the candidates, but I'm sure George Burley is very acceptable to everyone."

However, Brown felt that the selection process could have been rather more refined and felt publically naming a shortlist of candidates was not the best method of finding the right man.

Cumbersome

He added: "The process was a bit laborious and cumbersome. I think nowadays you should headhunt the man you want and go out and get him.

"But they decided to be quite transparent and let a four-man committee make the decision. Though I must admit that I have great respect for the men involved to get it right."

However, Brown is convinced that Burley is in a strong position to get Scotland to the World Cup in South Africa in 2008 because of the work done by previous managers Walter Smith and Alex McLeish.

He continued: "It is a good time to be Scotland manager because we are 14th in the world rankings and that has given Scotland a favourable placing as second seeds in the World Cup draw.

"Therefore the opposition is perhaps not as stiff as it might otherwise have been. The team is well established with primarily young players and one or two older players.

"It's a good time to take the team because it is playing well and he will be wise not to alter it too much. I think he'll get good results in the next qualification campaign."