Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Mark McGhee insists Scotland manager Gordon Strachan is desperate to stay in charge

Mark McGhee.
Mark McGhee.

Scotland assistant Mark McGhee insists Gordon Strachan is desperate to remain in charge of the national team and deliver the victory required to reignite the country’s World Cup qualification prospects this weekend.

With a mere four points from their opening four qualifiers, Scotland must defeat Slovenia at Hampden on Sunday to stand any realistic chance of progressing from their group.

Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Canada at Easter Road has done little to boost morale ahead of such a crucial fixture.

There have been suggestions that Sunday’s match could be Strachan’s last should the national team suffer a third defeat on the spin but McGhee says Strachan’s appetite for the job remains as strong as ever.

He said: “The sense I get is that he is not thinking beyond the game.
“Gordon loves the job and wants to win this game.

“More than anything else he wants to win it to keep us in contention with a chance of qualifying. But of course, within himself, he wants to win because he wants to keep doing the job.

“He wants to go into the England game still in with a chance. So, I don’t think he is blase about it.

“He desperately wants to keep the job. But I don’t think he is letting that worry him.

“I don’t think whether he loses his job or not has any bearing on the team he picks or the tactics or how he approaches the job on Sunday night.

“We are playing in the present and thinking in the present.

“All that matters is Sunday night.

“Even if we win on Sunday the chances are we will be going into the England game and having the same conversation.

“So, you have to take it game by game.

“We have to live with that and I think it makes it little bit easier.”

Former Aberdeen manager McGhee has enjoyed being back on the training pitch after being sacked by Motherwell last month.

He added: “‘I’ve only got one job now so I’d like to keep it.

“I love this job. I love being involved.

“Even this morning I was out there watching the quality and tempo they train at.

“It’s just fantastic and I love being around it.

“I would like to continue as well but, as far as anything else around me is concerned, I’m not in any negative frame of mind or any different to how I’ve ever been coming here.

“I enjoy it and want to be here.

“You are not out the loop. At home, I am on the East Sussex cappuccino trail now.

“It’s much better being here being involved in football.”