The Scottish FA announced today that George Burley would take over as national team manager. The move comes two months after the departure of Alex McLeish, who left to join Premiership club Birmingham City. Burley was chosen from a shortlist of five drawn up by the SFA, which also included former Derby boss Billy Davies, Motherwell’s Mark McGhee, Celtic coach Tommy Burns, and Graeme Souness, whose biggest managerial success was with Rangers in the late 80s/early 90s.
Burley joins from English Championship (formerly First Division) club Southampton, with whom he’d been struggling to progress. As a player (mostly for Ipswich Town), he earned 11 Scotland caps before moving into management with Ayr United in 1991. By 1994 he had returned to the club where he had played for most of his career, eventually taking Ipswich to three promotion play-offs and the holy land of the Premiership in 2000. His first season in the top tier was an incredible success, as he took the small Suffolk club to fifth in the league and earned the Manager of the Year Award. However, they weren’t able to sustain the success and were relegated the following season. In 2003 Burley took over at First Division Derby County and managed to save them from impending relegation. They struggled the following season, but a marked improvement in 04/05 saw them finish fourth in the table, just missing out on promotion through the play-offs. But behind-the-scenes issues made Burley’s job untenable and he quit in June 2005, before taking over at Hearts.
Recent history was to repeat itself as Burley lasted just four months at Hearts before quitting due to interference from club owner Vladimir Romanov. His departure was galling for Hearts fans – and for neutral Scottish football fans – who had watched Burley compile a team that looked well capable of breaking the Old Firm’s dominance by winning the Scottish Premier League. Hearts fans have struggled to forgive Romanov for forcing Burley out ever since.
Burley took over at Southampton shortly afterwards, and consolidated their position in the Championship despite substantial unrest at the club. In 2006/07, Burley led his side to the play-off places again, without success. Recently, Southampton have had to sell many of their key players, including Theo Walcott, Gareth Bale, and Chris Baird. Burley hasn’t been able to adequately replace them, meaning the club has been struggling to put together consistent form and are hovering in the middle of the table.
Article comments
1 - Dr Dreadful
Good luck to Burley. He has some big shoes to step into, but he's demonstrated over the years that he's an excellent coach and more than capable of rising to any challenge.
It is interesting that all the candidates being seriously considered were Scots. Contrast that with the recent England vacancy, for which there was not one single Englishman who could even be thought of as a realistic contender.
What are Scotland doing right that England aren't?