Scotland manager George Burley insists he had no worries about losing his job in the wake of a failed World Cup qualifying campaign.
"Fear is not a word I thought about," was Burley's reply when asked if he thought his post had been in jeopardy.
"I was proud of the team coming off the field against Holland even though we didn't get to the play-offs.
"The players showed their pride in their country and now we need to keep doing that in every game we play in."
Earlier this week, the Scottish Football Association voiced their faith in Burley, who is under contract until next summer.
Burley, who steered Scotland to third place in their World Cup qualifying pool behind the Netherlands and Norway, taking just 10 points from a possible 24, met with SFA board members on Monday to plead his case and outline plans for the future.
I feel I'm a stronger national manager than I was a year-and-a-half ago
George Burley
The former Ipswich and Hearts boss did admit it had been "quite an emotional, stressful few weeks", but believes he is a better manager after a turbulent 20 months at the helm.
"Of course there'll be some people who will say maybe, 'You don't deserve to be in the job'," said Burley.
"But they said that before I took over as national coach so I don't think much has changed.
"There's been a lot of speculation and it was important that things were cleared up as quickly as possible.
"I has a meeting with the SFA on the Monday, expressed my views on the campaign and what way we were going to go forward: things that were working, maybe things that weren't. So I think that was good.
"Thankfully, they've given me full support to carry on, so now's the time to look ahead, look to the future, try to build on the performances we had in the last two games at Hampden.
"I think we've got a good squad, a squad that has got stronger as the campaign has gone on, and hopefully we can keep developing it."
Burley received fierce media criticism following a string of poor results and off-field problems which dogged the campaign, but saw reasons to be cheerful in the win over Macedonia and 1-0 loss to the Netherlands.
"The last year and a half has sort of been up and down," he added.
"It was important for me to try to get used to the players, the players used to myself, and build on it.
"That takes time and I think there was a lot of evidence in the last two games to say that we are moving in the right direction.
"It's never easy qualifying for major championships; we've got to do better for the next one.
"I don't think there's anybody - whether it's a manager, a coach or a player - who doesn't make mistakes but that doesn't stop you making the decisions which you think are right for the team or the country.
"As a club manager, I always wanted to learn; this is a new type of scenario, me being a national coach.
"When you look at it as a whole, we have improved, we've got a stronger unit of players, I feel I'm a stronger national manager than I was a year-and-a-half ago."
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