Former Tottenham coach Joe Jordan flattered by Scotland link

Former striker Joe Jordan is pleased to be mentioned as a possible Scotland manager as the search for Craig Levein's successor begins.

Nearly three weeks since the defeat to Belgium left Scotland bottom of their World Cup qualifying group with two points, the Scottish Football Association yesterday announced Levein was no longer in charge.

Jordan, who served as first-team coach at Tottenham under Harry Redknapp, has welcomed reports linking him with the Scotland job, with Gordon Strachan the favourite for the role among bookmakers.

"I know there will be a lot of names, a lot of speculation," Jordan, who has managed Hearts, Stoke and Bristol City, told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"I am Scottish, I'm a proud Scotsman and a person that wants to work.

"And, for my name to be mentioned, yes, it's nice to be linked with the national job."

The SFA board, led by chief executive Stewart Regan and president Campbell Ogilvie, held talks with Levein last Tuesday before a final verdict was reached last night.

The SFA were criticised for prolonging the decision by many, including George Peat, who was president of the organisation when Levein was appointed in December 2009.

Peat told BBC Scotland: "I can't believe that it took three weeks to make a decision. To be honest, it could have been made in a couple of days.

"I certainly would have had the decision made long ago.

"What's disappointed me is that I believe there weren't really meetings held.

"My understanding was that most of this was done by conference call and I cannot believe that such an important decision was left to a conference call.

"I've had many a conference call in my time and they are not satisfactory at all."

Another former Scotland striker, John Robertson, believes Levein was starting to take the nation forward but ultimately paid the price for a poor run of results.

The former Dundee United boss won just three of his 12 competitive matches and had collected just two points from their opening four games in World Cup qualifying.

Yet Robertson, who won 16 caps for his country between 1990 and 1995, thinks some context needs to be given to that record.

"We've been been up and down. We've got a lot of lads who are playing in the Premiership and Championship in England," he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"He's done well and he's got some young lads who had a Scots leverage to play for us.

"But the results haven't been there.

"It's a strange one because his competitive record doesn't look great. He's won three, drawn four, lost five but two of those losses were against Spain and I can't remember the last time Spain lost a qualifying match in any competition.

"Take those two out and it's a reasonable record.

"Overall, he's won 10, he's lost nine and he's drawn five and that's been deemed not good enough and a lot of those were friendlies.

"It's a difficult one. He's worked extremely, extremely hard."

As well as Jordan and Strachan, Kenny Dalglish has also been linked with the post although Robertson concedes whoever takes charge faces a tough challenge.

"It's a hard job. The Tartan Army demand a lot, the press demand a lot. The players are certainly talented but it's getting the results, you have to get results as a manager," Robertson added.

"I don't see the benefit of changing mid-campaign because if one of the big guns that they're talking about - Strachan, Dalglish, Joe Jordan - come in and don't do well for the rest of the campaign they could be under pressure before the end of this campaign finishes."

PA