Strachan clear favourite to replace removed Levein as Scotland boss

Charlie Adam believes that the Scottish press are to blame for Craig Levein no longer being the Scotland manager, but the manager must take his share of the blame for the nation sitting bottom of their World Cup qualification group.

Scotland have taken just two points from their opening four fixtures in Group A and things now look bleak in terms of securing qualification to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Meanwhile, it could be argued that Levein has been on borrowed time since losing 1-0 to the Czech Republic during qualifying for Euro 2012.

It was not the defeat that was hard to take, but Levein’s defensive decision to play with no strikers.

Gordon Strachan is the 7/4 favourite to take over the reins, with Ally McCoist and Owen Coyle the next best in the betting at 6/1 and 12/1 respectively.

The problem is that even the best managers will do well to achieve anything with a squad of Scotland’s calibre, so quotes of 25/1 on David Moyes and 100/1 on Sir Alex Ferguson look too short if anything.

Next permanent Scotland manager
Gordon Strachan 5/2
Alex McLeish 8/1
Owen Coyle 12/1
Joe Jordan 14/1
John Collins 16/1
Walter Smith 16/1
Stuart McCall 20/1
Ally McCoist 25/1
Peter Houston 20/1
Billy Stark 20/1
Dougie Freedman 25/1
Derek McInnes 25/1
Billy Davies 25/1
David Moyes 25/1
Gary McAllister 25/1
Malky Mackay 25/1
Alan Irvine 25/1
Sir Alex Ferguson 100/1

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.