There is no one better than Gordon Strachan to lead Scotland through this World Cup qualifying campaign.
That is the – admittedly biased – opinion of his assistant manager Mark McGhee as the Scots prepare for their Group F double-header against Lithuania at Hampden on Saturday and away to Slovakia on Tuesday.
The pressure is on boss Strachan to take his side to the finals in Russia in 2018, having missed out so painfully on last summer’s Euros while the other teams from the British Isles made it to France.
Scotland have made a decent start with a 5-1 win in Malta last month that sent them top of the group.
Nevertheless, a slip-up against the Lithuanians and the focus will go right back on the former Celtic manager.
As he delivered the praise for Strachan, McGhee admitted that, as his pal from their playing days together at Aberdeen and now his right-hand man, he would say that, wouldn’t he?
However, the vote of confidence was still noteworthy and unequivocal.
McGhee said: “Gordon is good at his job – trust me.
“In fact, he is really, really good at his job.
“He is thorough and he is imaginative.
“He is brilliant with the players, with his communication, the way he respects them and treats them like adults.
“The way the players behave around him is brilliant too.
“I don’t think there is anyone better at the moment.”
McGhee, who was speaking at their Mar Hall training base as the squad met up, added: “I’m biased, of course, but remember that when I came into this job I had never worked with Gordon (as coaches).
“Gordon is my mate and has been for a long time.
“Over the years, when we have talked about football, I have heard Gordon say things and I have thought: ‘That’s not exactly what I think about it.’
“There have been other times when he would think the same.
“But what I have seen since is a well-qualified coach.
“We have also invested a campaign in him.
“We have had these Euros to learn and develop, and we have to make sure as a coaching group that we benefit from that and I think we have.
“Gordon has learned a lot and the players have learned a lot.
“Now we are all ready for this campaign.
“We all have the desire.”
That’s all fine but there is a feeling around that some critics may be ready to pounce if the Scots falter in the campaign.
There was also anxiety among the Tartan Army in Malta when the home team scored to make it 1-1 before the Scots pulled away from them to finish 5-1 winners.
The nervousness coming down from the stands was so evident that even Strachan mentioned it in his post-match comments at the Ta’Qali Stadium.
However, McGhee shrugged off any talk of being just one bad result away from disaster.
He said: “That is a pressure that we have to live with.
“That is a natural process that is running.
“I don’t think we can do anything about that, except win the Lithuania game.
“The important thing is that we want to win the game because we want to qualify.
“We don’t want to win the Lithuania match because we have some sort of fear of losing our jobs.
“We are totally focused on gaining that wonderful experience that the Welsh had and Iceland had in the Euros.
“We want that.”
Meanwhile, McGhee is in favour of the World Cup expansion plan being championed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
Infantino wants to raise the number of sides qualifying for the finals to 48 and the assistant boss feels that would benefit Scotland.
“I would be a fan of any format that got us to a World Cup,” said McGhee.
“It’s all we want to do.
“The format this time makes it pretty difficult.
“It was shown in the Euros what a fantastic contribution countries like Iceland and Wales could make so I’m in favour.”
