The Scottish Football Association hopes to name Sébastien Pocognoli as its next manager early next week, and the choice says more about what the association thinks went wrong than any statement of intent could. Pocognoli is 39, Belgian, and out of work since Monaco sacked him in June. He would be Scotland's first non-Scottish manager since Berti Vogts, who held the job from 2002 to 2004, and only the second in the men's team's history.
Steve Clarke resigned after the group-stage exit at the World Cup, ending seven years in which he took Scotland to their first World Cup since 1998 and was often criticised for a pragmatic style. He had signed a four-year extension in May, immediately before the tournament. Pocognoli is one of several candidates spoken to by the chief executive, Ian Maxwell, and Craig Mulholland, appointed the association's chief football officer in May; Jon Dahl Tomasson and Kasper Hjulmand were also linked with the job. That the shortlist went abroad at all was the first decision, and it was taken quickly.
The shortest of CVs
Pocognoli played 17 years as a left-back and won 13 caps for Belgium. British audiences will remember him from West Bromwich Albion, where he made 21 appearances across two years, and from a season on loan at Brighton. He was part of the AZ Alkmaar side that won the Dutch title in 2009, played for Genk and Standard Liège, won the Belgian Cup in a second spell at Liège in 2018, and retired in his early 30s.