McLeish won seven trophies during his time at Rangers

The SFA has a list of candidates to replace Walter Smith and McLeish is understood to be their favoured option.

"I haven't been offered anything but it would be very hard to say no," McLeish told the Daily Express.

"It's a very tough task but I have always felt it's better to face up to a challenge rather than walk away from it wondering 'what if?'."

SFA chief executive David Taylor, who will head a four-man board of selectors, said that the candidates would be approached "in the next week or so".

And McLeish, who been out of football since leaving Rangers in May, revealed that he has been offered an interview.

Formerly in charge at Motherwell and Hibernian, McLeish has spoken of his desire to continue in club management.

But the ex-Aberdeen defender, with 77 caps for Scotland, has emerged as the strong favourite for the post.

MY SPORT: DEBATE Jefferies would organise the team well, and we'd see more of the same results that we enjoyed under Smith WZ MY SPORT: Have your say

Tommy Burns has already managed to combine being Celtic youth coach with the Scotland assistant's job and had been seen as the continuity candidate.

Scotland have a B international with Finland next month and face important Euro 2008 qualifiers with Georgia and Italy in March.

"We would like to get the matter settled as quickly as possible," said Taylor.

"We do have matches coming up but we have to get the right candidate - that's more important than speed.

"If we can get the process under way, hopefully we can be in a position in the not too distant future of announcing the manager."

Jim Jefferies, Gary McAllister, Craig Levein and Joe Jordan are other names that have been linked with the job.

But Levein, Jefferies and Jordan are presently in jobs where the SFA would have to pay the kind of compensation that Taylor says he would prefer to avoid.

Jefferies has earned praise for the work he has done with limited resources at Kilmarnock.

Jordan, assistant at Portsmouth, has helped his unfashionable club to the higher end of the English Premiership.

Former Coventry boss McAllister has also been involved in the Scotland camp as a coach and has declared himself ready for a return to management after time out following the death of his wife.

Dundee United boss Levein told BBC Radio Scotland: "I would never rule myself out of anything as my experience at Leicester showed that things can change very quickly in football.

"When a job comes up, you have to look at it and decide whether it interests you.

"The Scotland job, for anyone Scottish, is a major job. It all depends on the timing."

Meanwhile, the SFA have announced that they have come to a financial agreement with Rangers following Smith's move to Ibrox.

A settlement has now been ratified and the association say that the matter has now been closed.