By Clive Lindsay

Scotland manager Vogts faces sack

The Gordon Strachan bandwagon is rolling, with the former Coventry City and Southampton boss emerging as the strong favourite among fans - and the bookmakers - to succeed Berti Vogts as Scotland manager.

Former Everton and Rangers manager Walter Smith and Strachan's former team-mate, Gary McAllister, appear to be the only other serious candidates should the Scottish Football Association revert, as expected, to choosing a Scottish leader.

Hearts' Craig Levein and Everton's Davie Moyes are the country's two brightest hopes for the future, but both could decide that the opportunity has come too early in their club careers unless they have become weary of the financial constraints and boardroom battles at their respective clubs.

McAllister, who gave up the manager's post at Coventry to look after his ill wife, is now looking to restore his career but perhaps lacks the necessary experience.

George Graham, who has been out of management since leaving Tottenham Hotspur more than three years ago, has previously distanced himself from the job.

Before Vogts was appointed two years ago, the former Arsenal and Leeds United boss said he did not relish taking charge of a side with limited playing resources.

Joe Jordan, who helped Scotland qualify for two World Cup finals, is held in high esteem by the Tartan Army but had limited success as a manager with Bristol City and Hearts and has not been in a managerial hot seat since 1997.

Smith and former Blackburn, Liverpool and Newcastle boss Kenny Dalglish are also available, but both men have had varied success and generally in posts where they have been able to build a team with millions of pounds available.

Alex McLeish's time at Motherwell, Hibernian and Rangers suggests that he is better at making the best of current resources than buying players to create a new team.

Walter Smith was last with Manchester United

But his once shaky position at Ibrox appears to have stabilised and he is likely to view it as too big a job from which to walk away.

Vogts' present assistant, Tommy Burns, must surely be too closely associated with the failed experiment under Vogts, while Under-21 coach Rainer Bonhof is similarly tainted and has had a string of disappointing results of his own to dampen his hopes.

Sheffield Wednesday's Paul Sturrock, Newcastle's Graeme Souness and Aberdeen's Jimmy Calderwood are probably too soon into their new club jobs to consider jumping ship.

Kilmarnock's Jim Jefferies, Dundee's Jim Duffy, Plymouth Argyle's Bobby Williamson and Dunfermline's Davie Hay have plenty of experience and knowledge of Scottish football but are unlikely to provide the kind of appointment that would excite the fans.

It would take a miracle - and a king's ransom - to wrestle the best living Scottish manager of all, Sir Alex Ferguson, from his present role as lord of Manchester United, especially as he has already had a brief spell as national manager.

So that appears to leave the way open for Strachan, who recently said he would be interested in the job before qualifying it with the proviso of "but not right now".

Should Vogts be sacked next week, as seems likely, it will soon become clear whether Strachan was simply being diplomatic while the German was still in post.

Latest odds (Ladbrokes)

6/4 Gordon Strachan
4/1 Walter Smith
8/1 Tommy Burns
10/1 Paul Sturrock
12/1 Gary McAllister
20/1 Jim Duffy, Alex McLeish
25/1 Davie Moyes
33/1 Joe Jordan, George Graham